Going Against the Grain
by Donteatacowman
Summary: A new villain enters the ELE-- for no reason but a simple murder. Tie Die balks at this, but something keeps pulling the two criminals together, especially once Bad Horse pulls his own little trick that neither of them quite agree with...
1. The World's A Mess

_A/N: Why am I uploading the first chapter now? The truth of this is, I just wanted to post Fake TJ's alleged plans before the presidential inauguration actually took place. There's more to come, though—you better believe it! And my apologies as to Horrible's occasional bipolarity. This kind of stuff can make one moody. Any well-thought-out and constructive criticism would make me much obliged… and the masses singing my praises, well, they're pretty awesome, too._

_Disclaimer: All belongs to Mutant Enemy. Tie Die, Horrible, even the League! Even some quotes! I own nothing but my own words._

_Oh, and buy the DVD. Seriously. It's a good idea._

_

* * *

  
_

Tie Die growled to herself as she saw the man in a crimson lab coat and dark, slightly rusted goggles take his seat slowly at the table along with the rest of the League, in the presence of Bad Horse himself. Who did this villain think he was? As he had entered, she found herself nearly entranced by the way he walked, with… not regality, no. But a sort of seriousness, as if this moment meant more than just an opportunity, or even the payoff of his life's work. She scowled. It had taken her months— years— to join the League, herself. So many failed attempts, so many lives taken. And this, this _poser_ waltzed right in among people like Dead Bowie and Fake Thomas Jefferson after committing a simple murder! And not a particularly well-executed one at that. Her cousin (one of the lesser members of the League, undercover as one of Captain Hammer's fangirls) had told her the story. He had failed to kill his nemesis and when he finally _did_ "off" someone, he ran to her like he was about to cry. The wimp. Even carried her body to the stretcher, like he was posing for a sculpture or something, singing all the while.

Yes, _singing_.

He was doing it now, too, like he was ending some verse about how tragic his life was. _Please_. But he finally paused, cleared his throat, and Bad Horse whinnied, signifying a start to the meeting.

Professor Normal took it from there. "Greetings, evil-doers, villains, members of the Fury--"

Leika punched his arm. "Come off it, Normal," she said softly and sharply at the same time, the way she always spoke. She turned to the new villain, seated at the end. "Doctor Horrible. Greetings. We have heard much."

Tie Die blew a raspberry through her lips and everyone turned to Bad Horse, expecting the noise to have come from the Thoroughbred of Sin, who often made such insightful remarks. She felt her cheeks turning red as the horse snorted a negative.

She had to keep her mouth shut—if this Horrible turned out to be popular with the villains, she could quite possibly be kicked out of the League. And of the few who had been weeded from the League in the past… She frowned to keep her mood what it should be. A villainess feels no fear.

But Leika was talking again now, about the evil Doctor and how good he must be to get in the League and how things went around here and yadda yadda yadda. She picked at her mask, bored. But suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Tie Die?"

She almost—but not quite—jumped in her seat. Fury Leika was touching her.

"Yes?"

"Why don't you tell Dr. Horrible a little about the League?"

Tie Die thought for a moment, then fixated her glance at the doctor, whose goggles and blood-red coat almost gave the creepy impression of otherworldliness. "We kill. And pillage. And plunder. And kill some more."

The man spoke for the first time, flatly. "Just chaos? No anarchy? No social reform?"

She wanted to snort. "No, just evil. No social reform in the least."

Snakebite interrupted with her trademark accent. No one knew from where she came, but she always pronounced vowels as _e_'s and hissed her _s_'s, in accordance with traditional supervillain-theme form. "Okay, yes, hippies, if we're quite finished with talk of politics, we have a League to run and evil to do."

"Yes," Fake Thomas Jefferson said, taking out a rolled parchment and spreading it across the table in front of them all. "Now, according to all of our sources, the presidential inauguration will take place here. If we fix the podium with--"

"Not you, too!" Snakebite screeched. "Get over your grudge against other politicians! You are never going to get reelected! Let us simply go back to the days of traditional evil, yes?"

"Wait a minute!" Professor Normal said. "We can't live in the past. The future of evil is now!"

Tie Die shook her head and put it in her hands, feeling another headache coming. If she could just live until the end of the meeting…

XXXMAKETHEWHOLEWORLDKNEELANDIWONTFEELXXX

She sighed as the others in the League finally left the conference room, another dead end for the world set in place. Pushing herself out of her chair with a groan, she stood and began to follow them, stopping by the door to switch off the lights as she went.

Gasping, she saw Dr. Horrible standing behind her in the now-deserted room.

He held up his hands in surrender, showing he meant her no harm. "Tie Die, right?"

She regained control of herself. "Yeah. Horrible?"

"Right."

There was an uncomfortable silence in the room as Tie Die started to think. Finally, she held up a finger. "Look, 'Doctor,' I don't know who you think you are, but I am not going to start to treat you like a full-blown member of the League just because everyone says you are. I have worked too hard for too long to be intimidated by a, by a henchman playing dress-up!

"So listen, _buddy_," she saw how his shoulders slumped at the sarcastic title of friendship, "I know you didn't kill that woman, so if you--" His head snapped up, and another moment of silence, this one tense, stretched between them. She made herself continue. "--If you think you can bully me around, you've… got another thing coming!" she ended lamely.

He took a breath, and pulled his goggles to his forehead to speak to her more directly, fiddling with them. She noticed how the area around his eyes was lined with red, presumably from the goggles, in the shape of a raccoon's mask. She also stopped short when she saw his piercing blue eyes, intently searching her own mask, as well as the dark sags beneath his eyes. Somehow, he seemed less alien. More human.

Horrible blinked. "Tie Die, did you mean what you seemed to, about social reform?" She started to answer but was cut off. "Because, that's, you know, why I wanted to join the League in the first place. Don't you guys have… _anything_ to do with politics?"

"Not really," Tie Die said, "Just evil."

He squinted. "You know, no offense, but you do look sort of like a hippie. Do you not like--"

She turned away. "Look, Doctor Horrible, this isn't the place for anarchy. Why don't you just go back to your lab or whatever and work on your doomsday devices?"

"No, I—no doomsday. I don't want the world to _end_. I just… want to rule it."

"Good luck." She laughed bitterly. Before the man had a chance to answer, Tie Die spun around and stepped away, down the hallway. She could hear him sputtering but ignored him.

Once she had gotten a satisfactory length away from the villain, she breathed deeply, leaning against the wall and sliding down it, closing her eyes. The day had been so long.

A dull, quiet thud pounded against her head. She snapped her eyes open tiredly. _Not something else!_ She pulled herself up and followed the sound back to the hallway in front of the conference room, peeking around the corner.

Horrible was pounding his head against the wall, muttering, "Stupid, stupid, stupid Billy. Stupid!" over and over, a word with each pound, clanging his goggles on the plastered-stone wall. She heard a giggle and realized it was her own.

Horrible must have heard it, too, for he stood up suddenly, adjusting his goggles and looking to her corner. Unwilling to look embarrassed, Tie Die stepped all the way out, crossing her arms and raising her eyebrows.

"Um. Hi. Just, ah, fixing my goggles. Heh. Too… loose."


	2. Villains Out Shopping

_Disclaimer: Dr. Horrible and all things related belong to Mutant Enemy._

Weeks after the last League meeting, Tie Die glanced around the corner. Good, no workers. The department store was nearly deserted this late at night. It was a bit low-brow, but it was close and she needed some cash. Surely the registers would have some, even with the terrible economy as of late. Yes, she agreed with Horrible that they needed some "reform" fast, but until then, everyone would just have to make do on their own. Like she did. And she was well off enough.

She checked her death ray, just in case, and crept out of her hiding place. No civilian-wear today, which would mean that she'd have to be extra-sneaky. She looked around quickly, then ran across the store to the check-out line. She smiled as she sped across the store, turning a corner—

And finding a customer.

_Shoot!_ She chastised herself both figuratively and literally. Sliding her ray out of her pocket, she turned to aim. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you."

"Give me a reason why you should."

"You're a witness to the crime."

"You're my coworker."

Tie Die rolled her eyes and replaced the hand-held ray gun, perching on top of one of the nearby appliances. "So, Doctor Horrible, I presume."

"Yeah." He blinked again.

"I have only one question. Why in the _world_ are you in the middle of a department store and not committing a crime!?!"

The blond reached to his forehead and, finding no goggles, settled for sitting as well, picking at his hoodie. "I needed a washing machine."

"Why not go to the laundromat?"

Horrible slammed his palm down. "I don't use laundromats!" he said bitterly. Tie Die was startled, but he continued, "I have all the money from the bank heists, right? What's the point if I don't spend it?"

"True."

The villain seemed very nervous now. "I'm—I'm gonna leave now. I can just buy the machine some other day. I'll see you around, 'kay?" He jumped down from the washing machine and walked swiftly to the exit.

Tie Die frowned. After a moment of deliberation, she said, "Oh no, you don't," and ran after him. Flipping in his path, she held up the ray. "Don't think I won't use this, 'cause I will."

"What do you want?!" Horrible cried, exasperated.

"I want to know your story." Seeing his confused expression, she elaborated, "All the good villains I know have a backstory. One got left at the altar, another believes he's a reincarnated president or something, and Bad Horse is just bad. But I will not let you get away without telling me about Penny."

This stopped the doctor in his tracks. He pronounced each syllable distinctly, slowly. "How do you know her name?"

Inside, Tie Die crowed triumphantly, her theory proven. Perhaps the League's grapevine was a more credible resource than many counted it to be. She kept the ray level at his head. "Doesn't matter. Talk."

XXXNOSIGNOFPENNYXXX

Tie Die curled her legs together, pulling her bed sheets with them as she tried to stay warm in her empty, one-bedroom house. That Horrible had kept her up late.

She knew he hadn't told her everything. But she also knew he'd rather die than tell her, which was fine but for the trouble she might get in with Bad Horse. So to keep her mind occupied, she thought over her own "story"—which was so short and dull she could barely think of it as one.

She had been homeless, of course, like half the nation was, when the 60's ideology had sprung upon her; despite being over for decades, the style, the colors, the philosophy inspired her. Change, they had promised. Change, everything promised. Yet somehow, everything remained the same…

She let her thoughts trail off until she was startled awake by a familiar ringtone. She slapped her hand on her bedside table, flipping open the phone as she yawned.

She was, of course, startled awake by a trio of loudly singing cowboys in her ear, shouting and whooping at the top of their lungs about how Bad Horse had an urgent emergency meeting and had someone for defeating or something, she really couldn't tell, having just had her eardrums blasted out of their rightful place in her ears. Once she heard the signature "Signed, Bad Horse!" at the end of the call, she threw the phone to the ground shouting a set of garbled words that must have meant something insulting in her head and pulled on her costume, getting her head in the correct hole after only three tries.

_This had better be important._

XXXBADHORSE,HE'SBADXXX

"It has come to the League's attention," said Fake Thomas Jefferson as he tried to calm the clamoring villains, "that one of us is a stool pigeon."

This did nothing to placate the noise and began a chain of accusations that Fake Jefferson cringed to hear. He held up his hands for silence. "This person, who shall _not_ be named, was a certain 'Pink Pummeler.' We have effectively disposed of the problem." An even larger cacophony of noise sounded through the meeting room as Dr. Horrible wrought his hands nervously.

Everyone talked for several minutes, shouting, until finally the volume became so loud that Bad Horse let loose a whinny.

A **Terrible Death Whinny**.

The older members of the League fairly expected this and had covered their ears, but Dr. Horrible was visibly shaken.

"Get him some air, please, and maybe some smelling salts," Jefferson told Snakebite, knowing the doctor was fortunate that the goggle straps covered most of his ears tonight, apparently put on incorrectly in the dark of night. After she returned, he addressed the conscious members. "The League has come to a decision, people, and that decision is that we must end any and all ties with the Henchman's Union." The villains looked at one another wide-eyed. "I know you won't have as much bulk in your forces, but we can still use henchmen, rest assured. However, any direct League members seen associating with henchmen will be immediately executed."

This woke Horrible up. He stuttered, but Bad Horse had already tapped his hooves, signaling the meeting's close.

Tie Die followed the other villains out this time. She knew Dr. Horrible had gotten out his phone and was talking animatedly with someone on the other line, but she decided that she had had enough of hearing the doctor's sob stories for one night.

As she walked away from the door, though, she soon noticed Professor Normal trying to keep pace with her, and slowed down, sighing. "Yes?"

"Hey, Tie Die! That's a pretty harsh law from Bad Horse, huh?"

"Yes, Normal," she said slowly, "he is the Thoroughbred of Sin. He's not exactly the embodiment of all that is kind and just." She hurried again, wishing she could lose the man who was attempting a pathetic conversation with her, and probably soon-to-be a pathetic pick-up line, too.

"Yes, but-but-but don't you have any henchpeople you're going to miss?"

Tie Die pressed her lips firmly together, willing him to move on, away from her.

Seeing that his ice-breaker was failing, Professor Normal tried for some gossip. "Well, you know the new guy, Horrible? I hear he shares an apartment with his henchman. Maybe Bad Horse planned this to haze him or something?"

"We can only hope." Tie Die surreptitiously pulled up her sleeve and glanced at her wrist. "Oh, look at the time. Gotta go." She darted down a hallway and out a window, landing on the ground with ease from the two-level jump. Listening to Normal's protests as they faded in the distance, she felt an evil grin settle upon her face. Mmm. She hadn't felt that good in a while.

She stopped at a gas station on the way home for a snack and a quick robbery then went back to her house, tired beyond reason. She fell asleep before she had time to change, as soon as her head hit her pillow.


	3. Feelings You Don't Dare to Feel

_Disclaimer: Dr. Horrible and everything related belong to Mutant Enemy._

For the next few meetings, Tie Die noticed Horrible's mood had taken a change for the worse, if such a thing was possible. He mostly kept quiet at meetings, no longer interjecting with corrections or nervous ramblings, and kept his goggles over his eyes full-time. Of course, Bad Horse had noticed this, and finally sent one of the League members in on an "important morale-boosting assignment" once it had gotten so bad that the evil doctor had taken to mumbling names and bits of song lyrics under his breath. By what must have been pure chance (or just that she never got any _important_ jobs), Tie Die was given the role, which incidentally had quite a negative impact on her own morale.

She dropped from a rooftop to the address the League had given her, double-checking it, and tried the doorknob. Locked, of course.

She could just have picked the lock to keep her skills from getting rusty, or found a window, but Tie Die had always favored the direct approach. _BAM!_ went the door as it crumbled under her kick. She paused, leg still in the air, to take account of the situation and prepare for any villain's lair's traps, then went in, cautiously avoiding the fragments of door now littering the hallway. Surprisingly, there was no onslaught—no noise in the least. She followed the hall into a door with a large "KEEP OUT" sign on it and opened it, allowing light to stream into the shadowy room. A giant cushioned chair loomed several feet away, half-turned from her so she could just make out the scrawny form of Dr. Horrible—had he always been so skinny?—seemingly comatose. She walked to him, ignoring small fragments of glass and debris littering the floor, and snapped a finger in front of his face.

The effect was immediate. Horrible straightened his back, startled, and looked up, narrowing his eyes when he saw her, with a glimmer of recognition. "Tie Die?"

She pulled him up— he actually _was_ just as light as he looked—and rolled her eyes. She would smack him and tell him to shape up if only she could, but she doubted Bad Horse would consider that kind of morale a boost.

"Wha- Tie Die, what are you doing here?" His eyes were flighty, darting from side to side, then he leaned in for a conspiratorial whisper. "Are you one of _them_, too?"

_Oh, brother._ She yanked him out his door. "No, Doctor Horrible. You and I are going for a night on the town."

"You—I—huh?"

"Bad Horse said you were too mopey. Reflects bad on the League for its members to be schizophrenic insomniacs."

For some reason Horrible's face turned downward. "Oh."

"What, you think I'd break into your apartment at 8 PM to go on a date with you?" Tie Die laughed.

"No, I—uh—maybe?"

She smirked. "Come on. How's about a robbery? Bank job?"

"I… really don't feel like committing crime right now."

She stuck out her tongue. "What do you feel like doing, then?"

"I'm… kind of hungry."

Looking up and down Horrible's frame, Tie Die asked, "When did you last eat, anyway?"

Horrible held a hand up and silently counted on his gloved fingers. "Um…"

"Whatever. You wanna get some food, then?" At his dubious look, she amended, "No frozen yogurt."

He froze. "How did you--"

"You told me." He didn't move. "Last month or so, at the department store. Remember?"

After a moment he relaxed. "Right. The department store. Never did buy my washing machine."

Tie Die could tell very clearly and absently wondered if the sole reason he switched to a red lab coat instead of white was because it stained less easily. She didn't point out his lack of hygiene and instead grabbed his covered hand, running out through the door and ignoring his protests as he stumbled behind her. She pushed him into the passenger side of a pick-up truck parked in front of the apartment and climbed in the other side herself.

"You-- brought a truck?" he stammered.

"Nope."

"…Oh." he said for a second time as she revved up the engine and sped away from the building and towards downtown.

She soon pulled into one of the fast-food restaurants' drive-through and leaned out of the rolled-down window, shouting "Two double-cheeseburgers, hold the ketchup, and a yogurt parfait!" at the microphone hidden by the speaker posted next to the large menu, pressing the accelerator almost immediately afterwards and veering to the pick-up window a little ways away. The baffled cashier stared at her as she snapped her fingers impatiently, but put the food items into a couple of grease-soaked, advertisement-splattered paper bags once he had gotten them together.

Tie Die didn't stick around to pay the tab, grabbing the bags and throwing them to Dr Horrible (who was already rather preoccupied with holding onto his seat for dear life as the truck sped away from the scene of the crime) and commanding, "Eat!"

The edges of the doctor's mouth turned downwards, and he grimaced as he took out one of the dripping hamburgers and held it waveringly to his mouth. After several seconds, he put a hand to his stomach and said, "You know, I'm really not that hungry now. Motion sickness and all…"

Tie Die gave him a disbelieving look. "Really."

Horrible glanced down shamefully. "She didn't eat meat, you know."

She took one hand off the steering wheel to take out the tiny tub of parfait. "Yogurt, then."

He took the accompanying spork out of its plastic wrapping and his face showed an expression of extreme pain. "Penny loved frozen yogurt. We always ate it with a spork…"

Tie Die growled and took another hand off the wheel and, much to Horrible's dismay, picked up the forgotten burger and shoved it into his mouth. He made a little choking sound as she said, "Swallow!"

Afraid for his life as the truck swerved on and off the road, he finally gulped the sandwich down and Tie Die put her hands back on the wheel. "Wimp."

"Am not."

"You're _afraid_ of a _spork_."

"Hey, those things can bruise you worse than any superhero!" She looked at him skeptically and he amended, "Well, almost."

"Why, did Penny attack you with one or something?"

Horrible cocked an eyebrow. "…Not quite."

Tie Die glanced out the window at a bank they were speeding past longingly. "Sure you're not up for crime tonight?"

"I'm sure." He shifted his weight. "Why?"

"I just…" she thought of the adrenaline rush she got every time she did anything the least bit illegal. "…never mind."

"No, really. Why?"

She let out a breath. "It's just… greed. Excitement. Ruining the establishment. All that bunk."

"That's not bunk."

"Greed?"

"No! Destroying the status quo!" Horrible seemed to perk up for the first time that night. "We're all slaves to the establishment! We shouldn't let arbitrarily-named 'heroes' control our life! We need a—"

"_Change_. Yes, I know. Heard it all before. Listened to all the election speeches." She smirked but her eyes didn't reflect any evil glee. "Think, _Billy_," Horrible cringed at the use of his real name. "If there was going to be change it would have happened already. No matter who's in control, whether hero or villain, nothing's going to revolutionize our world! Everyone's got their own agenda. Doesn't matter who gets in the way. Somebody's going to get the short end of the stick no matter what. Superhero, supervillain, or innocent bystander." He started to interject something, but Tie Die continued. "Do you really think anyone would be better off if you were in charge, Horrible?" She paused. "You're smart. You've got good inventions. Why aren't you a hero, anyway?"

He looked like he had tasted something sour. "Because I actually have morals."

"Yes, that explains so well why you've turned to the murderous side of evil."

"It's not like that! It's… complicated. And-- and trying to take over the world is better than what you're doing—sitting passively by while _everything happens_ and pretending everything is okay!"

Tie Die twisted the steering wheel suddenly, forcing the truck off the road. "Excuse me?!"

Horrible gained confidence as he went on speaking. "You think you know everything, don't you? That I'm a wimp for actually _having feelings_! You think it's easy to lose people you like, even love, to be the killer instead of the victim? You think you know what it's like to lose _everything you— ever_…" He trailed off.

Horrible finally deflated completely, wide-eyed at some internal revelation and not bothering to finish his sentence.

Tie Die smashed down the key to unlock the passenger car door. "Get out." Horrible didn't move, still in a daze. "Oh, no, you are _not_ going all frozen on me again. Get out!"

He blinked, then moved to get out of the truck. "Yeah. Yeah. See ya, Tie Die." He opened the door and slid around on his seat, stumbling as he tripped over the step-bar. Tie Die scoffed and grabbed his elbow. "Get in," she said exasperatedly.

As she lugged him back onto his leather seat, Dr. Horrible pulled the door closed again, but looked at his elbow where her hand rest. He blinked hard once more, quickly, and looked up to her face. They both stopped, motionless, as something neither could put into words passed between them and they simultaneously realized how close the other was.

After a pause that wasn't quite as uncomfortable as it should have been, Tie Die cleared her throat self-consciously and Horrible made a couple "hm" noises to fill the void, although neither knew why.

Horrible pushed up his sleeve but only found leather glove. "You know, it's getting kind of late…"

"Yeah," Tie Die readily agreed, rubbing her arm up and down. "Gotta get up early in the morning. To do, you know, villainy."

"Right, right, that takes a lot out of you."

It was a quiet ride back to Horrible's apartment in L.A. For some reason, though, Tie Die found herself smiling, and saw through the corners of her eyes that Horrible was doing the same. Eventually, the truck slowed to a halt, and the apartment was in front of them. Dr. Horrible, his hand having been resting on the door handle inertly throughout the ride, pulled the door open and stepped out, careful to keep his balance. Seeing his arms held in the air exaggeratedly as he left, Tie Die laughed quietly behind a hand and saw him acknowledge her with a slight tug to the already turned-up corners of his mouth.

Lowering his arms, he suddenly seemed awkward again, almost curling in on himself. "Um, thanks, Tie Die. That was… kinda fun."

She raised an eyebrow. "Anytime, handsome," she said, obviously teasing, but silently gasped as she realized what had just transpired. Did she just—?

But Horrible had already held up a glove in a good-bye gesture and walked into his home, stopping when he saw the smashed bits of door sprawled across the floor.

_Time to leave_. She smashed her foot to the ground, amused as she saw Horrible's half-surprised and half-confused expression.

_Easy there, girl_, _no more happy people, remember?_ she told herself, but for once ignored her inner voice as she hummed her way home, mysteriously in a much better mood than when the evening had started.


	4. And We'll Make Time Stand Still

_A/N: I've been busy and sick lately, so after the next few updates, I might slow down a bit. However, don't worry: I have plenty in store! Any and all courteous reviews are appreciated.  
_

_Disclaim__er: Dr. Horrible and everything related belong to Mutant Enemy._

Tie Die didn't talk with him again for a few weeks or so. Though Bad Horse had commended her on her performance—Horrible was much more productive ever since that evening—they had been studiously avoiding each other outside of the League meetings. Every once in a while, when the talk had begun to get dry, she would think she saw him stealing a glance at her, but when she looked up, he would be closely examining the wood grain on the table or about to speak up in an argument against Snakebite or Normal. Once, though, she had thought she saw a flicker of movement in his face. She took a glimpse but his head was again turned away. It had happened a couple times when suddenly, their gazes met. They both stared as a smile crept upon each of their faces. Tie Die tittered, a hand over her lips, and suddenly became aware of the League's eyes as a hot blush crept along her cheeks. She immediately put her hands in her lap and cleared her throat. "Yes, what was that about statistics, Normal?"

The other members nodded and looked to the scientist, except for Fury Leika, who held up two hands in a toned-down shrug directed at Tie Die. Tie Die held one hand up to her ear, thumb and pinky finger out, then tapped her wrist in a _call me later_ gesture.

"Excuse me, ladies." The authoritative voice of Fake Thomas Jefferson cut into both villainesses' thoughts. "Is this an evil league of organized, malevolent mayhem or a middle school?"

Chastened, Tie Die frowned, but thought she caught a flicker of a cocky, laughing expression on Dr. Horrible's face before it disappeared.

XXXTHEEVILLEAGUEOFEVILISWATCHINGSOBEWAREXXX

"Men are scum, Tie," Leika said a few hours later on the phone. "Terrible, disgusting, unfaithful pond scum."

"I know, Leika, you've told me a million times," Tie Die said into her microphone as she kicked a boxing bag in her living room with a _whump_. She adjusted the earpiece. "It's not like I'm going out with him."

"Oh, don't give me that. Didn't you tell me that he ended up killing his last girlfriend and using her to get into the League in the first place?"

"He wasn't his girlfriend, actually—"

"Oh, right. Just like you're 'not going out with him'."

She punched the bag. "Yes, exactly like that," she said sarcastically.

"The League is not a matchmaking service, Tie Die. We've been over this. You are a strong, confident woman, and you've killed dozens of better guys in your day…"

"Well… not _dozens_…"

"…and here you are giggling like a schoolgirl over some sophomoric crush! Maybe Normal's right."

"Normal?" she replied, a bit offended. "What is that geek right about?"

"That you've gone soft."

_Gone soft_. Villain decay. Every supervillain's worst enemy, beyond even the most pervasive hero. _And this from __**Normal**__!?!_

"I have _not!_" Her fist went through the leather bag, dripping bits of stuffing along with it.

"Ooh, scary villainess," Leika's velvety voice taunted in her ear. "What say we go have a girl's night out, then, hmm?"

"Where?"

"I was thinking somewhere like, say, Miss Amazing's house? Get her out of the League's hair, and maybe have some fun while we're at it?"

Tie Die thought about it for a moment. Maybe she did need to get out… she had been feeling strangely un-villainous in the past few weeks. "Sure…"

"Come on out, then."

She frowned and refastened her earpiece. "What?"

"I'm outside your window."

She walked to her window, opened the curtains, and saw Fury Leika standing there, black hair and pure white wedding dress unnervingly blending in with the cold, moonlit night. Leika twirled a set of keys on one finger. "Ready?" she mouthed.

Tie Die sighed, sliding open the window and climbing out. "Don't you ever use the door?"

Leika smirked. "Like that's any fun."

XXXMYARCH-NEMESISXXX

She peered at the blonde heroine in full costumed glory snoring alone on the king-sized bed, then looked at Leika, who held a finger to her lips mischievously. Tie Die took the small ray gun out of her belt, taking the setting off "stun". She dropped from her vantage point on the rafter above the bed, making sure to land softly on her toes, and walked to the large bed. Checking to make sure Fury Leika was beside her again, she removed a gag from a pocket and paused before stuffing it in between the two rows of Miss Amazing's perfectly white teeth and tied it, eliciting a gasp as her victim woke up suddenly. She exchanged a playful glance with Leika, both no longer bound to silence, and said, "Super-senses? As if."

"As if what, Tie Die?"

"As if she actually thought she was somebody."

"Yes…" Leika turned her attention to Miss Amazing, twirling her ball and chain. "But she's not. She's just a little, inconsequential, dirt-on-the-bottom-of-my-shoe do-gooder heroine." The impossibly thin woman struggled against her muffle as she turned to Tie Die. "Eliminate her."

She nodded and set her pistol to the gagged superwoman's head. Miss Amazing looked at her pleadingly. Tie Die frowned but for some reason found herself lowering her pistol as she inwardly marveled at how large her eyes were. In fact, they were the same shade of blue as Doctor Horrible's…

"What are you waiting for?" Leika began to tap her foot. "We don't have all night, you know."

She found herself wordless to explain. "I… I just…"

"Give me that." Leika snatched the gun, then cocked an eyebrow mock-apologetically at Miss Amazing, though Tie Die knew she was trying to save face. "Sorry. Henchwomen these days…"

Tie Die paused as the remark sank in. When no apology was made after only a few seconds, she drew a deep, collected breath, then raged, "_Henchwoman!?!_"

Leika froze. "I mean… Tie Die…" That was the first time she had ever seen Leika at a loss for words.

"I see now! You were just pretending, just acting like my friend so I would come and do the dirty job for you, and you get all the credit, and the prestige of being the only villainess with a henchperson, huh?"

"We're _evil_! We're not supposed to have friends!" Leika glared. "Everyone always betrays you sooner or later; you should know that!"

"Oh, and I suppose Miss Amazing is your arch-nemesis then, not just another superhero off the street?"

Leika faltered.

Enraged, Tie Die ripped the gag off of the superheroine beside her. "I'm not going to stick around to be used by you anymore, Leika! I—I—argh!" she shouted and kicked the window by the bed, shattering the glass and screen and climbing through the hole. She pulled herself through, twisting around to point at Leika. Her finger shook. "_LIAR!"_

"Hello! I'm evil! I said that already!" Tie Die heard Leika call to her, but she had already turned back and was sprinting away from the large house, now aware of tears streaming down her face. She choked for a moment, figured that she was far enough away, and sat down on the slightly damp dirt, squeezing her arms. _No time for this. No time for feelings. No time for friends. Other things to do. Dimwit, why did I ungag the superhero? The League'll have my head on a spike…Gotta get out of here…_ She realized she didn't have any transportation. No cars were in sight, and even if they were, she didn't have any way to hotwire them. She bit her lip and took out her battered cell phone and pressed a button. _So what if Horrible's on speed dial? He's a member of the League, isn't he?_

She heard the jingle of the phone on the other line. After three rings Horrible finally picked up. "Hello? If this is Normal about the explosions, I can explain—"

"It's me, Horrible. Tie Die."

She heard his voice suddenly sound— concerned? "Tie Die? What's wrong?"

"I need a ride. Now," she said, checking the address of where she was and rattling it off to him.

"Aah, um, okay. Is there a reason?"

"No." Her voice cracked.

"I'll… be right there, then?"

She snapped the phone shut without a "goodbye" and pulled her knees to her chest, counting cars passing by her idly for something to do.

After only a few minutes, she heard the rumbling of an engine as a car pulled up to the corner and stopped beside her. The man inside stretched across the seat and fumbled with the lock for a moment before opening the passenger-side door and revealing his tussled blond hair and red-ringed blue eyes. His goggles were halfway sliding onto one ear.

Tie Die pulled herself in the car and slammed her door, locking it. Horrible stared at her.

"What?" she said irritably.

He looked down quickly. "Nothing. Just—were you mud-wrestling?" he blurted out, then smacked a glove over his mouth. "I mean, you… um… look fine. Great." he mumbled around it.

"Just a heist," she lied crisply. "Probably front-page worthy. Lost my getaway car."

"Oh."

Silence reigned for a moment. Horrible broke it. "So, um, where do you want to go?"

She suddenly realized the car had not moved since she had gotten in. "I guess… my place."

"Where's that?"

"You don't think I'd give out my address to a villain without the ability to figure it out for himself, do you?"

Horrible paused. "So you want to drive, then?"

Tie Die sighed loudly.

"Look, just—drop me off by the League headquarters, 'kay? I should be able to get home from there."

"Um, okay."

He turned on the ignition and the motor purred as it began to drive away from the street corner. Tie Die yawned.


	5. Still Stuck on World Conquest?

_A/N: Like I said in the last chapter, I'm sick and may not update very quickly. Please bear with me! Reviews spur me on and are much appreciated... (hint, hint!)  
_

_Disclaimer: Dr. Horrible and everything related belong to Mutant Enemy._

She hugged her arms together. She knew she was awake and had to get up—important evil to do—but it was so _warm_. She hadn't felt that comfortable in her own bed alone for—

Her eyes snapped open and she realized she had completely fallen asleep, slouching off of her chair and clutching to Dr. Horrible's arm. "Gah!"

"Waagh!" Horrible shouted in return, equally startled.

Tie Die raised her head and saw the League building through the car's window. "We're here!" she said. "Why didn't you wake me up!?!"

"I tried!" Horrible shouted back defensively. "But all you would do is tell me that you'd shoot me as soon as you woke up if I did!"

"I wouldn't do that!"

Dr. Horrible rolled his eyes, then blinked.

It was a minute or two before Horrible said, "Um, you can… get up now, if you want to. Not that I don't like this, I mean-- oh shoot, just pretend I didn't say anything."

Tie Die jumped up to a sitting position. "Right! Right. I'll… just get going now."

Horrible ducked his head. "Bye."

She turned to go, when his hand on her arm stopped her. "Hey… Tie Die…"

"Yes?"

He coughed. "Just… keep your head up, okay? Things always seem better in the morning."

She found herself smiling only slightly. "I'll do that… Billy."

She stepped out of the car and closed the door. She trudged to the undergrowth around the borders of the property and watched Horrible look after her, then slowly drive away.

She whispered, "_And thanks_," ashamedly under her breath, then turned around for the long, chilly walk home.

XXXKEEPYOURHEADUPBILLYBUDDYXXX

That Friday night, she stopped by Horrible's house. _So men are bad news, huh?_ she thought to herself smugly. _Well, Fury Leika, if everything you told me was a lie…_ She hopped up the steps to the apartment and, noticing the new and intact door, decided to do Billy a favor and knock. Not like she was on League business. She heard muffled shouts coming from the apartment and hushes, as well as shuffling noises. Tie Die was about to investigate when the door swung open in her face to reveal a too-widely-grinning Horrible in the doorway.

"Hi, Tie Die!" he said loudly. "Why don't we just… go outside?"

She walked in anyway, confused.

"No, I, uh…. COME ON IN!" he shouted. "LET'S GO INTO THE KITCHEN, FAR AWAY FROM ANY INCRIMINATING CLOSET DOORS THAT MUST HOLD NO SECRETS WHATSOEVER!"

Tie Die was taken aback. "Horrible? Are you—okay?"

"I… I'm fine! How about we just… walk over here…"

She rolled her eyes and walked in the opposite direction from that to which Horrible was pointing until she reached a closet almost fully blocked by furniture. She began pulling away a sofa when he started to protest.

"Wha—no, no, it's… there's nothing there! Just… coats. Yeah, coats! But we don't need them because of global warming, so let's just go outside…"

She continued to ignore him until the door was clear and she swung it open, to reveal a man in an overcoat and heavy mustache standing behind the door. She stepped back, shocked.

"Oh… yeah. Heheh. This is my uncle… Moi… Moirton. Morton. He's shy." Dr. Horrible said, nervously sweating almost as much as the man in the closet, whose mustache had slid to his chin and whose eyes were darting back and forth. "Now, Morton was just leaving, weren't you, Morton?" he questioned pointedly.

Tie Die looked at him unwaveringly then turned to Horrible. "He's your henchman, isn't he?" she stated.

Horrible looked down, embarrassed. "Yes."

Tie Die groaned. "Billy, you're in enough trouble with the League already with all the talk of reform. Do you really have to—"

"Moist's my best friend!"

The damp man waved. "Hi, Tie Die," he said around his fake mustache. "The Doc has been talking a lot about you--" He was silenced by Horrible's glare.

"Hi, Moist," Tie Die said flatly, then addressed Horrible, "You keep your best friend in a closet?"

"I… uh…" His expression became that of a wounded puppy. "You won't tell the League, will you?"

"Horrible! That could cost me my job, maybe my life if they knew I kept this a secret! I—I—…" Billy's bottom lip could almost be seen quivering, he looked so pleading. "I… oh, okay." Tie Die wanted to hit herself for being so foolish as to be taken in so easily, but…

Horrible grinned suddenly, enveloping her in a hug. "Thank you, Tie Die!"

Moist stood in the background awkwardly as she tried to pry the evil doctor off of her. "Yeah. Can you get off me now?"

He suddenly pulled back, aware of something, and composed himself, clearing his throat. "Hm. Yes. Now, what was it that you came here for?"

"Just…" She looked between Horrible and Moist. "Nothing. I'll come back later…"

"Do you want to see what we were planning?" Moist asked eagerly. Horrible made reserved cutting motions over his neck, which made Tie Die want to know.

"What is it?" She walked to a table with plans laid out upon it and peered at it before looking back at him. "Jefferson's presidential inauguration plans."

Horrible nodded, enthused.

"You… know that happened already, right?"

Horrible bit his lip and scuffed his foot on the ground. "Yeaaah… I was just… studying it for reference." He snatched it away and rolled it up, giving Tie Die only a second to see the stick figure with a lab coat and goggles at the podium, with a couple of arrows drawn here and there.

She sighed. "You're not still stuck on the idea of world conquest, are you?"

"It's plausible!" Horrible defended himself. "When was the last time you saw a town without half the population wandering around, homeless? Or saw a newspaper without a superpowered media darling on the front page and the current events and notes on the socioeconomic status on the back?"

"And you think you can change all that."

"Someone has to!" Horrible put his arms in front of his chest. "If I don't, who will?"

"And I suppose _that_--" she gestured to the paper in his hand, "is going to help the world?"

Horrible's face fell but he grumbled, "Still better than 'heroes'," under his breath.

"And you think that if you even managed to do it, Bad Horse wouldn't have you assassinated and assume your place?"

He froze. "He could… do that?"

Tie Die spun around. "Look, I'm gonna leave. See ya, Horrible," she paused, then added, "And Moist."

"No, wait!" Horrible stumbled but put his hand on her shoulder. "You don't think… the League…"

"They're not out for a new world order, Billy. They want chaos." Tie Die said.

"Right, to destroy the status quo--"

"And to ruin as many lives as possible while doing it."

He blinked. She walked to the door. "I'm going to leave. For real this time. And I do not want to see you before the next meeting." He didn't stop her this time as she slammed the door behind her and left the apartment complex.

_Well. That was a nice first date._


	6. Just In Time For Valentine's Day!

**Alternate titles:** "The Status Is Not Quo," "It's A Brand New Door"

_Disclaimer: Dr. Horrible and everything/everyone related belong to Mutant Enemy._

She did see him at the next meeting. Horrible spent the entire time brooding, a dark look on his face unlike those she had seen since his first days in the League, his fingers steepled in front of his goggles. She had tried to make visual contact, but the shadowed goggle lenses kept his bright blue eyes hidden from the rest of the League. Her one attempt at touching his shoulder during a brief break had failed as well, as she was just shaken off.

The same thing happened at the meeting after that. And the next. And the next. Until one day, he was completely absent.

She had stayed after to ask Bad Horse about him. She was told that he was no longer viewed as an asset to the League and his membership had been terminated.

She walked directly out of the building, numb, knowing what that entailed. She got in her newest car and drove to his apartment.

As soon as she shut her car door, Tie Die halted. "Oh, no," she murmured and ran to the doorway. The brand-new-door had been smashed in the middle, sharp pieces jutting every which way. The already-rusting doorknob lay on the cement step, motionless. She jumped over the wooden shards and peered inwards. A trail of debris was strewn in the hallway, every door having been splintered or ripped off its hinges. She was almost afraid to go in. Almost.

The lab was in an even worse condition than it had been the first night she had come to his home, with broken beakers littering the floor and various electronic gizmos spontaneously sparking around the toppled gargantuan armchair. She could see a few ripped photos and diagrams here and there around the fallen bookcases, and a molding of a torso with a vivid outward digestive tract was sprawled across the ground. She realized she had fallen to her knees in the doorway. She heard a sobbing and recognized it as her own. She blinked the tears away. _Villainesses don't cry._

A hand on her shoulder made her jump. She had thought she was totally alone! She twisted around, already-clenched fists now rising defensively, and saw a fauxly-smirking Fury Leika.

"L—Leika?" she choked out.

The raven-haired criminal crossed her arms and leaned against the door panel. "Tie Die," she said with only the slightest hint of disgust.

"Leika, wha—what's all this?"

"Oh, you mean Horrible's… excommunication?" Leika smoothed out her dress, casually fluffing her poisonous bouquet. "Well, he had been acting somewhat suspiciously in the League meetings as of late, and with the recent security breaches, I thought it best to alert Bad Horse about anything outside the norm. Can you believe that our cameras caught him _affiliating_ with a _henchman_?" She tsked. "And of course you know the penalty for that." She looked scornfully at Tie Die's prone form.

Tie Die pushed herself up angrily. "You don't mean they—you wouldn't—"

"He's just another man," Leika said dismissively. "A rebellious one at that."

She sank down to the ground again. "Could you at least give me a few minutes alone?"

"Certainly." Leika held a hand out, pointing at the door. "You can be alone at home for as long as you want. You have my permission," she added sweetly.

Tie Die wanted to glower but, as she picked herself up yet again, she felt all of her energy sap out of her. Even her anger. Her mind was numb. She walked out the front door, kicking aside the wood, and didn't stop until she had reached her car and had driven back to her house. She locked all the doors and windows, pulled the blinds, and turned off the lights.

It was then that she let herself cry.

XXXSOYOUTHINKJUSTICEHASAVOICEXXX

There was another League meeting a few days later. She stayed home.

* * *

_A/N: I have a new evil plot: I'm holding Chapter 7 for ransom. Unless I accumulate a total of five or more reviews here and at Livejournal (where I crossposted this), your precious chapter will never see the light of day again! MAHAHAHAHAHA!_

_...That is, until tomorrow. Will I upload it today or will I wait? It is up to you...  
_


	7. Sleeping Not Dead

_A/N: Thank you for the five reviews. As announced, the next chapter(s) will go up today. *laughs evilly* My plan is complete! Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, namely _**idioticonion**, **Belphegor**, **vballmania23**, **xJazminex**, _and_ **asjdalksjfd**.

_Disclaimer: Dr. Horrible and everything/everyone related belong to Mutant Enemy._

_

* * *

  
_

She finally left the house once she had run out of unspoiled food. She went to the grocery store and filled her cart, then headed for the door.

She paused, then wheeled the groceries to the check out counter and paid for them.

_No point in all the stolen money if I don't spend it,_ she reminded herself bitterly.

She brought the bags out to her car and packed them in the trunk. She realized as she was pulling out of the parking lot that she had dropped one of the bags. There were dozens of shoppers walking in the lot. No one had told her or helped her. She let the bag sit there as she drove away anyway.

She hadn't been paying attention to where she was driving and soon she found herself on Billy's street. She almost passed his apartment and twisted her wheel suddenly, screeching into the driveway. Tie Die got out and slammed her door behind her, sprinting up the steps and not stopping until she was in the large chair in the lab, collapsing in it and hugging herself. _Ohhhh…_ She ignored the stream of tears that were running down her cheeks as she smelled what seemed so familiar, the lab and the chair and _him_…

* * *

It was a while before she looked up to see a man in a dirty white lab coat now standing awkwardly in the doorway with a plate of cookies.


	8. Chocolate Chip Cookies

_Disclaimer: Dr. Horrible and everything/everyone related belong to Mutant Enemy._

She gaped. And gaped. And let her arms drop uselessly to her sides. And gaped.

Doctor Horrible had the expression of a deer in the headlights as he held out the plate, dumbfounded. Not knowing what to do, she stood up and walked to him, taking a cookie. Horrible cringed, preparing for an onslaught of questions.

Tie Die simply looked at him, flabbergasted and waiting for answers.

He looked away, ashamed. "The League came here the other night," he said. She stared. "I was… at the laundromat." He attempted a nervous chuckle but it came out as a stifled choking. "When I came back, the apartment was a mess and I found a death threat written in red ink… or maybe blood. Turns out that Fury Leika heard about Moist, and had it in for me."

Tie Die blinked. "You know—I didn't--"

"I didn't know how it got out. She didn't actually kill me though, and risked her own life if she told the League that she had failed. I figured that my own apartment was the last place they'd expect me to be, so…"

His nervous, trailing sentences were cut off as he was encased in the arms of a crying, angry Tie Die.

"Don't—ever—do—that—again!" she shouted as she squeezed the living guts out of Horrible. By about the time that his face turned purple, she let her arms hang loose and her sobbing body fell limply into the stunned doctor's hands. He stood stiffly for a moment, and then struggled to lift her up, managing to get her head onto his shoulders as her arms wrapped loosely around him.

Finally she pushed herself up to see his face. It was smudged with something dark and his goggles were pushed up, exposing his tired eyes. She didn't hesitate to dive forward, smashing her lips on his own that were slightly opened in surprise.

He squirmed for a minute, stunned almost as much as Tie Die herself, who grasped his shoulders for stability as she leaned forward.

He tasted like chocolate chip cookie.

Abruptly she broke the kiss, turning her body away from him and to the upturned lab. She heard Horrible attempt to formulate syllables. "Not a word." She paused. "You startled me, that's all." Another pause. She spun around, putting her hands on her hips. "All right, now, we're going to get this place cleaned up. I don't care if you are a mad scientist; this place is hardly even livable."

Horrible stammered and slowly raised a glove to his lips, halfway pursing them then stopping. He lowered his arm. "Right, right. I've—been working too hard on the inventions—never fixed anything after the sacking, other than the furniture--"

Tie Die sighed and bent down to her knees to pick up some of the diagrams spread out on the floor. She noticed her arm was shaking. Suddenly she felt a warm body press against her back, and Billy's lab-coat-covered arms wrapped around her belly.

"I missed you, too," he whispered.

Her immediate reaction would have been to swing around and hit him, but she stopped herself before she had a chance. She didn't move, and she found her muscles relaxing as she leaned back into him and just… was.

* * *

_A/N: Combined, longer chapter(s) yesterday and today plus a sickness and lack of writing equals slower updates. Forgiiiive meee! But no evil cliffhanger this time. That counts for something, right? This is the first time I've posted a chapter without an XXXBLAHXXX divider in between it, so the next will continue with this scene.  
_


	9. Working With A Vocal Coach

_A/N: I'm truly sorry for the lagging updates. I haven't had as much free time lately, plus FF went down for a couple days. I should have more time come the middle of March, but this may be done by then; I really don't know. Fortunately, I have one thing working in my favor—no writer's block!_

_Disclaimer: Mutant Enemy owns all rights to Dr. Horrible and anything so connected._

They both stayed there for a minute or two, feeling the other's presence somehow more appreciatively than Tie Die had thought possible.

Just then, she heard the door open.

Jumping out of Billy's arm, she spun around and saw the man she recognized as Moist, sans the fake mustache and holding a gallon of milk.

Moist had stopped short when he saw Horrible and Tie Die curled up together. He stared for a moment, perspiring, then glanced back out the door. "Um, do you want me to bring the milk in later? 'Cause, you know, if you two want some privacy…"

Horrible scrambled up as Tie Die fumbled for words.

"I, we, she, no! I mean, that's okay, Moist, we were just… cleaning up," Horrible stuttered.

Moist rubbed his arm uncertainly. "Really? It didn't look like--"

"No, we were cleaning up," Tie Die said firmly as she held up a fistful of diagrams as evidence.

Moist shrugged. "Do you need any help?"

Horrible adjusted his goggles. "No, I think we're fine for now; we were just about to take a break. Thanks for getting the milk." He looked back at Tie Die. "You want some milk and cookies?"

She bit her lip. "Yeah, okay."

Horrible went to Moist, took the milk appreciatively, and left for the kitchen, glancing behind him. Tie Die and Moist followed and sat down in the small kitchen. Moist grabbed a handful of cookies and put them in front of his seat at the table as Tie Die looked at Horrible, who was dipping one of his cookies in a glass of milk and biting it.

After several minutes and several more cookies, Horrible became unnerved. "What?" he said, accidentally spewing crumbs and swallowing quickly.

"What were you working on?"

He stopped. "Huh?"

"You said you were working on other inventions. You're not in the League anymore. What are you planning?"

Horrible's eyes darted from the lab's door back to Tie Die. "I, uh… nothing."

Tie Die crossed her arms firmly. "Billy…"

"You… the League…"

She blew a hair out from between her eyes. "Billy, if I was still with them, I would have killed you the moment I saw you." Moist stiffened beside her.

Horrible seemed to deliberate something inwardly for a moment, then sighed. "Come on, I'll show you." He pushed himself up from the table and gestured for her to follow him back into his lab.

She trailed behind him as he walked tiredly back to the lab, pushing the door open again as all the remaining electronic equipment activated. She noticed the tiny trails of smoke spiraling around his feet for the first time, stepping carefully as Horrible approached the whiteboard with various scribbles and doodles splayed across its surface, covering it almost completely. Horrible looked at the equations, wiped a number off with his glove, picked up his marker, and wrote another one in quickly. He turned to face Tie Die.

Surprisingly, his face was not the epitome of childish glee and pride in his work that she had been expecting; it was suddenly serious, almost frighteningly so.

She cleared her throat to break the tension. "So, what's this?"

He took her arm and led her closer. "My ultimate plan."

"Riiight," she said a bit disbelievingly, waiting for elaboration.

He put the cap on the marker and used it to point to the upper left corner of the board. "See, here's how it's gonna go down…"

For the next half hour, Horrible explained in excruciating detail his plot as Tie Die stood beside him with her arms crossed. Eventually, he stopped. "And then we win." The last drawing to which he pointed showed a peace sign with a slash through it and a goggled yellow happy face.

Tie Die rolled her eyes. "Ye-ah."

Horrible looked her in the eyes. "Tie Die. This isn't a silly, let's-have-fun-and-rule-the-world thing. I mean, it'd be cool if it was, but—anyway." He half-smiled but the expression faded away. "This isn't just about me. The world is going to go to pieces if we don't do something soon. The heroes are tools. The villains are cardboard cut-outs. Everyone else just hangs around, waiting to become an innocent bystander. And we're the only ones who see it coming!" He paused. "Which makes it worse. But not if we know we can do something!"

"Billy, this isn't something even in the realm of the plausible, either! I mean, freeze rays? Memory wipers? Mind switching devices?"

"My freeze ray worked."

"Yeah, for three minutes."

"That's all we need!" he exclaimed.

Tie Die huffed. "How fast do you think you could do this?"

Horrible looked back to his whiteboard longingly but turned his eyes to Tie Die again. "So that's it, then. You want to just give up. Let the League come kill us. Let the world--"

"Forget about the world for a minute!" she yelled. "Think about yourself! Both of us, even! Do you think we could do this ourselves?!"

The corner of his mouth twitched upwards. "Moist could help, too.

Tie Die sputtered, then finally shouted, "_Augh_! You are… incorrigible!"

"I try my best."

She frowned to cover her quickly-growing smile. "So you said you were working on some stuff?"

Horrible perked up quickly. "Yeah," he said, leading her out of the room and to a long table with various gizmos scattered around on it. "Fixing some bugs on the Freeze Ray is top priority now, so the other machines'll have to wait. See, I have this problem using it on biological matter. Hammer'll be fine; he's practically indestructible anyway. The glitch is when the atoms stop vibrating when time stops for 'em, which brings everything to absolute zero and would literally freeze everything anyway--"

Tie Die started to zone out again, listening to the man's chatter but not really hearing it as she examined his face. She could see the obvious delight, but there was a pensive quality to his expression that she hadn't noticed before hidden behind it.

She hadn't really noticed herself getting closer to him until she brushed his shoulder and he jumped, having been lost in his monologue.

"So you're really serious," she sighed. Horrible nodded hesitantly. She walked back to the kitchen to grab a handful of cookies, then went to the large chair in the lab and plopped down, sprawling her limbs across it. She stuffed a cookie in her mouth and talked around it. "Well, make sure I get a continent, then."

Dr. Horrible tilted his head slightly. "You mean you're in?"

"Yeah, whatever." She crammed another cookie in.

She saw him grin but try to hide it. Tie Die waved her arm. "It's fine, I know you want to."

He took a breath and let it out with flair. "**Ahahahahahahahaha**!"

Tie Die smirked and so did he as he added, "Still got it."

_A/N: Reviews are fuel for the muse. Want more updates? Drop a note, or even a single word! Your comments are appreciated much more than you may know…_


	10. Build A Brand New Day

_Disclaimer: I do not own Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog or anything related, whether characters, lines, or the ELE. This is/was a fan work and the only profit derived from it is/was the pleasure of writing and the joy of reviews from my peers._

_A/N: Yeah, sorry about the long break. My play is over, so here's a long chapter for your hopefully pleasured reading! And don't worry: there is more to come. Really._

She left the apartment reluctantly after another hour or so of going over Horrible's plans. It was almost evening; her frozen chicken and ice cream, she had discovered upon opening her car trunk, had long since melted and now were leaving puddles on the carpeting. She stuffed them in plastic bags, muttering, and then drove back to her house.

It was a wreck.

It was one thing to see Horrible's house after the League had left, after he had cleaned it back up to living-in quality. It was another to drive to her own home and see the broken glass and the falling shingles, the debris and the scattered possessions in the muddy lawn. She gave a little cry and almost got out of her car when she stopped herself as she thought she saw shadows move behind the torn curtains. Fear held her still until she forced herself to press her foot onto the accelerator and drive back down the street.

She was stunned for minutes. _How did the League know--?_

Her heart stopped beating for a fraction of a second as she realized.

_Horrible stuttered as the man in the closet scrambled to keep his fake mustache on. "Oh… yeah. Heheh. This is my uncle… Moi… Moirton. Morton."_

"…_He's your henchman, isn't he?" Tie Die deadpanned._

_*_

"_You… the League…" Horrible said worriedly._

_Tie Die rolled her eyes. "Billy, if I was still with them, I would have killed you the moment I saw you." Moist stiffened beside her, afraid._

*

"_I thought it best to alert Bad Horse about anything outside the norm. Can you believe that our cameras caught him affiliating with a henchman?" Leika tsked. "And of course you know the penalty for that."_

_*_

Leika. The cameras! _Stupid!_ If they had caught Horrible on film, they must have caught Tie Die, too! Why hadn't she realized? She had to—had to—

Had to what?

She couldn't go back home. She wasn't going back to Horrible's, she knew that. _One thing Leika was right about—I don't need a guy; I can take care of myself._ She was a villainess! She shouldn't need to depend on anybody for anything. She pulled over and slammed her forehead on the steering wheel, ignoring the jarring, continuous honking it made. Her eyes felt watery but she blinked back the tears until she was sure that her eyes were dry. She pulled her head up suddenly. If that was how Leika wanted it, it was time to play hardball. Tie Die opened the glove compartment swiftly and took out a small cache of miniature weaponry.

What was it that Horrible said he needed, again? She listed the items in her head. A shopping list. She pulled away from the curb, making her way to the ELE headquarters for some intelligence gathering and a few choice bits of machinery.

XXXMAJORHEISTTHISWEEKENDXXX

Tie Die dropped into the basement of the large building. The League invested in the finest security available, but for a trained professional like her, a simple break-in was no sweat.

Especially since the only things to be guarded in the basement were the janitorial supplies and some ancient, unused records.

She ignored the thought and blew a cobweb from her face, creeping to one of the many large bookshelves. She ran a gloved finger down the binders. "1970, 1970, 1971—ah, here we are," she muttered under her breath. She might not be a scientific buff like Normal—or Horrible, she admitted—but as part of her self-administered villains' training course before entering the League, she had forced herself to sit down and look at the big technology crimes of the twentieth century, especially the ones in which the League was presumed involved. If she recalled correctly, the round, gold-and-silver-colored Metallions from the 70's had used a certain blend of metals, alien and regular, that Horrible had mentioned could improve the chances of his memory wiper actually working. The Metallions temporarily shut down all the neurons in a person's brain when activated with a certain sequence, which should have imposed instant death, but about two days later, the victims "woke up" unharmed. Horrible had thought he could engineer them to completely shut off certain neurons of his own choosing. Tie Die had no idea if he could, but as she knew very well, mad science was a frightening realm, one in which the principles that held Reality in place could be bent or broken altogether and somehow stay stable.

She found herself suddenly glad that Horrible was still part-time Billy. Mad science had been known to break the manipulator as much or more than the rules of Reality. Too much time in a world of logic where rational thought was meaningless was rumored to drive a person, well, mad.

Maybe that "morale-boosting" assignment Bad Horse had given Tie Die had held more weight after all.

The time she had been thinking she had also spent flipping through the pages of the logbook until she had reached a certain page. A large diagram, intricately detailed with hundreds of tiny notations and labels made of jagged, wild letters, spanned two pages in the book. Every measurement was precise, exact. Squinting at the words in the partial moonlight, Tie Die eventually gave up on the meaning and instead pulled a small blade from her pocket, ever-so-carefully drawing it vertically across the two pages near the binding, determined to leave no trace of the drawing's former presence in the book. No robbery of Tie Die's would bear any evidence of her at it—she hated sloppy work. She carefully sealed the paper in a plastic bag and placed it in her pocket.

Now came the harder part—stealing the Metallion itself.

She knew the layout of the Evil League of Evil well, and they hadn't expected her. Thus, she managed to make it to the gadget room pretty easily, dodging the odd triggered projectile and flipping across a laser grid or two, and took out a decoder. This, of course, she hadn't made herself; she had stolen it from a vendor at a superhero convention while undercover. _Know thy enemy and all that_. She slipped it in a slot near the door and heard an affirmative beeping while a little green light flashed momentarily.

The huge metal doors slid open with a _hiss_ and Tie Die found herself staring at aisles of inventions, weapons, and miscellaneous gizmos. _Oh, boy._

Fortunately for her, the Metallions were a former pride of the League, and was displayed in a bulletproof case in the second aisle. She found it after only fifteen minutes of browsing.

_The case may be indestructible_, she thought with a smirk as she cut with her miniature laser, _but the lock isn't_. Obviously, the Metallions' safety was no longer one of the League's top priorities.

Her main objective for her impromptu mission completed, Tie Die perused the rest of the aisles for several hours, picking up little cogs and cases of liquids here and there that she remembered Horrible mentioning. The League was well-stocked, and her efforts did not go in vain. The light of the sun, which was just beginning to rise, was shining on her dimly by the time she felt she was done there. Looking left and right out of habit, she nimbly climbed up a shelf and onto a large, refrigerated container next to the window, then pulled herself through it and onto the grassy ground bathed in pale sunlight. Tie Die scrambled out of the hole and into the shadows with a small sack of stolen goods, not bothering to rest in the cool, clean air until she had gotten as far away from the League building as she could.

She knew she should feel tired but she was wide awake, adrenaline heightening her senses as she got into her parked car and drove, aggravatingly bound to the traffic laws to avoid suspicion. After an eternity of lawfully-sped driving, she arrived back at Horrible's apartment. She stopped the car and got out, slamming the door. The noise echoed down the slumbering street, as did Tie Die's clicking steps on the pavement as she climbed the few steps to Horrible's door and almost kicked it open. After a second of thought, she decided that the poor door had been kicked enough in the past while, and she took the handle. The door was unlocked. She swung it open.

Listening, she was able to hear soft snoring from a few rooms away. She followed it and saw Doctor Horrible, in full lab-coat décor, sprawled across a couch with each limb hanging off, his goggles pushed so high on his forehead that they were almost falling off his head. His blond hair, stuck up in odd directions, would have given him a slightly crazed look if not for its comical effect and the cutely content expression on his face as his chest rose and fell slowly. It would have been a shame to wake him.

Tie Die didn't adhere to the social norm, though. She walked up to the man and dropped the bag on him.

Horrible started awake with an "_Umph!_" as it hit his chest. His arms flailed and he blinked in the sudden light. His eyes took a moment to adjust. He focused on her. "Tie Die?" he mumbled.

"Got your supplies, Doc," she said.

He pushed himself up onto his elbows but, finding no purchase, rolled over onto the floor, _whump_ing as he did so. He jumped to his feet a little unsteadily. "Wha--? My supplies? You mean the Metallion plans?"

"And some other junk."

He bent down, reaching into the sack at his feet. He pulled out a fistful of metallic cogs. A look of pure wonder spread across his face as his mouth pulled into a grin. He grabbed the bag and turned it upside-down, letting the pieces spill across the floor. His hand spread across them, sifting through the bits and pieces and checking the labels on various canisters. It was a minute before he looked up joyfully at Tie Die. "Where did you find all this stuff?"

She shrugged. "Here and there around the League headquarters. Which reminds me." She stuck a hand in her pocket and pulled out the diagram, still sealed in the plastic bag, and the Metallion. She handed them over to Horrible, whose mouth was hanging open in astonishment.

"You… got a Metallion?"

"Yeah, yeah," she said with a dash of false nonchalance.

Horrible looked at her again and suddenly seemed to actually see her. His eyebrows pulled together in a frown. "You're really dirty."

Tie Die looked down at her costume. "Yeah, I guess I am."

He fidgeted. "So, um, why don't you go home and take a shower and I'll work on stuff here, and maybe we can meet up—"

"Can't. League got to my home."

Horrible started to answer but stopped immediately after her words registered. "They—they…"

"Yep. Ransacked the place. Last time I checked, they were still there."

He blinked. "I… " He suddenly looked awkward. "Well, I mean, you don't wanna stay here, do you?"

She waved him off. "No, I'll get a hotel room or something. But when are you going to get this inventing done?"

He looked back to the spilled sack, relieved to have a better conversation topic. "Well, taking into account that I don't have League funding or resources anymore, it'll take longer than it usually would. This is all theoretical, you know, so I can't really predict the time. Trial and error, right? So…"

Tie Die cleared her throat impatiently.

"Right, give me a month and we'll see how it goes."

"A month."

"Ye-ah, is that too long?" He shifted his weight worriedly.

"You're saying that you can do all this in a month?" She gestured to the plans in his hand and the pieces on the ground.

"There's a reason why they call us mad geniuses."

"Emphasis on _mad_." She saw him look at the stolen items almost hungrily, yearningly. "I guess you want some time alone with your new toys, so I'll just…"

He raised his eyes to her face reluctantly, but said with sincerity, "You can stay here if you want to watch…"

"Nah, I'm better off away from all the science mumbo-jumbo. See you in the morning?"

"Yeah, sure." His eyes were back at the sack again.

Tie Die half-smiled and walked to the kitchen, stole a plate of cookies, and left the apartment. As soon as she slammed the door, she could hear Horrible muttering happily and the clink of metal against metal as he dove into the experimentation. For some reason, her smile grew larger.

_A/N: Thanks to all who reviewed the previous chapters. As I said before, __reviews are fuel for the muse! Please review! *holds out a tin cup and looks pitiful*_


	11. And She May Cry But Her Tears Will Dry

_Disclaimer: I don't own Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, nor any characters, quotes, or anything else so related. This is a fan creation and I, the author, have made no profit from it but the pleasure of writing and hopefully the reviews from my peers._

_A/N: So I'm getting back into the writing gig. This is the last of my stock-and-store of "Going Against the Grain" from before my illness/play, so everything after this will be all new material. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy!_

_

* * *

  
_

The next day, Tie Die awoke early to a clean room in the stiff, newly-starched bed sheets that seemed to characterize all hotels. She got in the shower again and checked out in civilian clothes—flared jeans and a tie dyed t-shirt, naturally—after pocketing everything in the room that wasn't nailed to the wall or table. She had no idea why she'd need five individually wrapped bars of cheap soap or three hand towels with the name of the hotel embroidered on the ends (_Then again, around Moist, I better be prepared,_ she thought as she smirked), but such was the life of the evil.

Before going at Horrible's place, she decided to check out her house for the League. Fortunately, they had apparently left while she was gone. Carefully opening the door, Tie Die inspected the damage. Doors were off their hinges; curtains, sheets, and pillows had been dropped on the floor; and, sure enough, there was a large piece of curling parchment tacked to the door of her bedroom. _Must have been Fake Jefferson's idea._ She made her way over the rubble of her possessions to the paper, and tore it off, slightly tipping her head to read it.

**_Former member of the distinguished Evil League of Evil_**, it read in a regal lettering that actually did appear to be written in blood, **_This note is to inform you of your recent dismissal from the League. Although your services have been of use to us in the past, we have found reason to remove your membership. This will, of course, result in your immediate extermination. Be aware that any and all attempts—_**

Tie Die tried to read on but found that she could not. The blood, or ink, trailed off as a new line of script began in an old-style, bold black. She jumped a foot in the air when a trio of mustachioed cowboys appeared behind her, singing in perfect harmony:

**_He's been able to use you in your former job  
__But your treachery means that now he has no prob'  
__With sending after you an angry, murd'rous mob  
There will be blood, it will be yours  
Might as well give up  
Signed: Bad Horse_**

The cowboys disappeared as suddenly as they had entered, one of them whooping as he left. Tie Die tried to swallow, but her throat was too dry. She had know that the League would be out to kill her, yes, but… something about Bad Horse's signature threw her off.

She squared her shoulders. He manipulated through fear; she had to stay strong. Still, she was much more cautious as she picked up her few unbroken belongings and left the home quietly, driving to Dr. Horrible's a little more quickly than she knew she should have.

XXXANDNOWASSASSINATIONISJUSTTHEONLYWAYXXX

As Tie Die opened the door, she could hear the same sounds of faint clinking and zapping that she had when she last left Dr. Horrible's apartment-lair. She sighed. _Did he get up early just to mess around with his toys?_ She slammed the door behind her and trudged into the lab, stealing a cold piece of toast from the toaster and flipping over the giant chair's plush back to land on its cushion. She bit a hunk of toast and watched Dr. Horrible, who was bent over a silver ray and jabbing it with a wire experimentally. Tie Die shoved the rest of her food into her mouth and waited for him to straighten, but he stayed in place, moving only around his ray.

_Gah,_ Tie Die thought, tired of being ignored. Slowly, though, a mischievous smile crept onto her face. She slid onto her heels and crept to the villainous doctor. He didn't react, even as she sidled closer to him. She leaned her neck out slowly until her lips were right by his ear. She nibbled on it and could practically hear his eyes fly open. "Hello, Billy," she sang quietly with a smile.

"Woagh!" Horrible straightened suddenly, his hands flying to his ears. He shook his head vigorously for a few moments. "Don't _do_ that!"

"What, don't you like it that I surprised you by being here, Billy?" Tie Die pouted exaggeratedly, although the effect was almost ruined by her predatory grin.

Horrible reached up to his head and jiggled his goggles. "Well, I mean—I—My name's not Billy!" He looked down at his dirty lab coat and added with a marginal amount of pride, "Not when I'm in uniform."

Tie Die looked at him. "You need to get that cleaned. As in today."

"Yeah…" Horrible stared past her for several moments. She cleared her throat and he seemed to snap back.

"Didn't you get _any_ sleep last night?" She stuck a hand on her hip. Horrible looked away from her eyes. "Oh, Billy!"

"Horrible!" he corrected. "And I managed to get a lot done! Do you have any idea how long it would have taken to put together the Metallion if the metal hadn't been bent the right way? And the Wonderflonium for the Freeze Ray might have been bounced, I'm not sure, but if it wasn't I can still use it and maybe even incorporate it into—"

Tie Die looked at him levelly. "Go get some sleep."

"But the _Metallioooon_!" Billy tried to protest.

"Billy."

"Tie Die! I mean, if I don't get this done today, the entire future of the world is at stake!" She opened her mouth to interject sarcastically but Horrible grabbed her by the shoulders. "I'm serious. If we don't finish this soon, then, then everything'll be for nothing! _Please_! I'll just need five more minutes and then I'll go!"

Tie Die shook her head stubbornly. "You need to sleep. Do you really think the world needs the inventions of someone who can't think straight?"

"But that's the point, Tie Die! You think you know, you think you've got this idea of what we're doing. That always, _everything happens for a reason_ and happens _logically_. Science is supposed to be logical, right? That's the _point_ of science! But sometimes, the world goes mad! Science needs to catch up! Have you stepped outside lately, seen the mess humanity's in?! _Sometimes the world needs madmen!_" By this time, he was shaking her angrily, and she couldn't see him clearly because her head was jerking up and down.

She pulled away. "You know what? _Fine._ Fine! You go ahead and go _insane_, but don't expect me to stick around if you're going to work yourself to death!"

She realized that the light in his eyes that seemed to have appeared over the last few months suddenly dimmed as he drew away from her. When he spoke, it was much louder, but more resolute and dark than she had expected. "Maybe that's what I need to do!" He turned back to the ray and picked up his wire. Tie Die held a hand out to spin him back around but stopped short at his voice. "Get out."

"Billy—"

"_Get out!_"

She paused and turned around after a short silence, walking out of the lab almost silently despite her burning need to stomp her feet childishly.

"I don't need to share my madness with you. With anybody." She tried to ignore Horrible's mutters as she left. "Besides, I made that mistake once already.

"And look how _that_ turned out."

* * *

_A/N: Review? Review for the figuratively starving writer? *hopes* Please?_


	12. That's Why He's Called Cliffhanger!

_Disclaimer: I don't own Dr. Horrible or anything related. I also don't own the kid's show "Between the Lions," whose song's lyrics are the title of this chapter. XD I know, I'm a dork sometimes.  
_

As she left the building, Tie Die glared. The nerve of that man to, to… Well, she didn't know his crime exactly, but she knew it was there somewhere, and she wasn't going to come back on her hands and knees anytime soon. She tripped over a branch that was on the cracked sidewalk and kicked the tree next to it, frustrated. She ignored the strange looks she got. Captain Hammer was out of the picture, so Horrible at least had some use: Supervillains were apparently free to wander the street. She glanced down at her boot and sighed. It was terribly scuffed with tree bark. She sat down on the cement and rubbed her hand over it, trying to clean it.

"Tie Die?" she heard a voice say. She dropped her foot and jumped up to her knees. It was the Moist guy. The henchman shifted his weight with a squelch, holding out a hand. "You need some help or something?"

She pulled herself up. "No, no, I'm fine."

"What's up? Anything wrong?"

"No, nothing. I said I'm fine."

Moist thought for a moment, then shrugged. "Okay." He put a foot out to walk away.

"Well… It's just that…" Tie Die hesitated. "I went in to surprise Billy and he didn't notice me until I touched him and he yelled, and he didn't get any sleep and when I told him to he just yelled at me again and I think we just broke up." Her words ran together into ramblings and she faltered at the last phrase, letting her shoulders slump. She leaned against the tree and held her arms across her chest.

"Hey, hey, it's okay," Moist said, holding his hands out and looking a bit befuddled. "Horrible does that all the time. When he's really mad or confused something, he just works on his projects. He stays up for a few days in a row, then he crashes and sleeps for a long time. It's just how he does things. He's really weird when he's awake but he gets a lot done. It's how his rays usually end up, you know, actually working. He'll be fine in half a week -- and I bet he'll do anything to get you happy again," he added encouragingly.

Tie Die shook her head vehemently. "Doesn't he get that he's playing with fire?"

"It's only for a little while. It's not like he's going to get all emo or something."

"I've been around mad scientists for a long time, Moist. It's my job. They get… it's like a mental illness or something. They start diving into their work, not thinking about anything but the hoosy-whatsit device and how they can alter the laws of physics or something." She waved her hands around. "I think it gives them a sense of power. They forget about how the rules work in Reality, and just know about their magical world of making the make-believe come alive!"

Moist frowned, not understanding.

Tie Die twirled a finger around her temple. "They go totally insane."

"Oh."

She bit her lip. "I've seen it so many times… I do _not_ want to see it happen to Billy."

Moist looked aside. "He's not just Billy. He's Dr. Horrible too, you know."

"What's the difference?"

"The uniform, mostly. But Horrible does things that Billy used to be afraid to do. They're both him. Horrible's a part of who he is."

"How would _you_ know?"

"I've worked with the guy. For practically forever. We understand each other." Moist seemed a little amused. "Come back to his house in three days. I promise he'll be willing to do whatever you want him to, and he'll have done a month's worth of work."

Tie Die deliberated. "Fine. Three days." Moist smiled and turned back to the apartment building but paused when she spoke. "You're a pretty good henchman for a guy with lousy powers, you know that?"

He grinned a little more widely, then left Tie Die alone on the sidewalk again, the surrounding air more humid than before.

XXXMAKEPEOPLEWANTTOTAKEASHOWERXXX

She went to a different hotel each night, under a different pseudonym each time. She used a couple wigs, even a pair of granny glasses, so no one gave her a second glance. She knew from experience that the members of Los Angeles were not the most observant in the world—probably how Billy got away with that ridiculously transparent disguise in his earlier days. She was getting tired of lugging around her ever-growing pack of steal-able hotel items. Eventually she dumped the entire bag in the laundry chute of her latest temporary residence and didn't come back to pick it up. _Someone else's problem now._

But after about ten minutes she dug it back out again. She knew Billy'd disapprove. That's why society was screwed in the first place, right? Dumping a load on strangers in favor of irresponsibility?

So Tie Die was stuck lugging a sack of stolen hotel freebies and miscellaneous items into the car like she was the Santa Claus of toiletries. She opened her car's trunk and swung the bag in, slammed the trunk closed, and got in the front seat, blowing a hair out of her face. It had been three days and she was going to hold Moist to his promise. _Horrible'd better be up by now._ She drove along the highway, back to the city, for about twenty minutes, eventually pulling up to the curb across from Horrible's apartment building.

The sun was just beginning to rise—she had always been a morning person—and she ducked her head under the dashboard, taking off her wig and glasses and letting her hair down. She got up again and left her car, climbing Horrible's steps and picking the lock to his apartment. He had very cheap locks. She easily opened the door and let it fall closed behind her. The room was dark, as if sleep was still descended upon the residents, and she suddenly felt intrusive. The floor boards creaked ever-so-softly although Tie Die stepped quietly as she glanced in Horrible's room. She let her eyes adjust to the lack of light. Empty, as she knew she should have expected.

She continued to the lab and slid the door to it open with more effort than she should have needed, trying to ignore the mists that spread like ghosts around her feet. She could barely make out the slumped figure of Dr. Horrible in front of a table with various bits of ray guns on it. She frowned slightly, concerned. Tie Die approached him cautiously, seeing his face in the dim, early morning light. It was covered with sweat and shivering—shuddering—although Tie Die thought the temperature was comfortable, if not slightly chilled. She put the back of her hand to his forehead. It was fevered.

As soon as her hand made contact, though, he jumped back onto the floor with a small cry that faded into a moan. She picked up his arm to pull him up. "Billy?" she asked, surprised at the softness of her voice.

She guessed that his eyes had opened a crack. He muttered something unintelligible that almost sounded like that… girl's name. _Penny._ Something in her stomach churned unhappily.

She was startled when he pulled her arm, making her fall onto his lab-coat-covered chest, and enveloped her in a tight grip, like a bear hug. He crashed his lips onto hers with a ferocity Tie Die didn't recognize.

_A/N: Dream sequence inspired by Abbs of the faeries, though it's probably such a leap of logic from what you suggested... I really hope this sounds plausible.  
_

_Sorry to leave you hanging… Reviews spurn me on. It doesn't have to be complimentary, just a note, a criticism, a thank-you. Please be nice. :)_


	13. He'll Get Over It

_Disclaimer: I hold no legal ownership over anything contained in this fanfiction. Dr. Horrible and all things related belong to Mutant Enemy._

—She was lost in the kiss for a moment, relaxing in his arms, when her brain kicked in. Something was very wrong. She pushed against him, trying to get up. His arms flailed for hers again, but she was stronger than him and managed to get to her feet. She scrambled up, hitting the light switch on the wall.

Horrible was standing and blinking in the sudden light. Before she could yell at him, he apparently got his bearings and began to prattle awkward apologies. "Tie Die! You were—wagh! I am _so_ sorry, I don't know what I just did and I…" He backed himself into a corner. "I don't know… what I just…" he trailed off as his head slumped against the wall.

She heard the door open. "What just happened?" a bleary-eyed Moist asked. "Oh. Hi, Tie Die."

"I don't know!" she answered his question, flabbergasted. "I came in and he was at the table. He was sleeping but he was shivering and sweating, and he had a fever and suddenly…"

Moist ran past her to the mad doctor's side. "Doc, you all right?!"

Horrible looked up but his eyes seemed to focus on something behind Moist. "Moist? You… she…" He eventually seemed to see him. He drew in a sharp breath and let it out. "Penny," he said sadly, leaning his head against the wall and closing his eyes.

"_What_ is going on?" Tie Die asked Moist.

Moist felt Horrible's forehead. "Just bad dreams. Penny, you know. He'll get over it."

"Get over it?!?" She heard her voice rise in pitch. "He's hallucinating with a high fever and just tried to wrestle me to the ground and—well, he's definitely not fine!"

"Just go back home, Tie Die. He'll be fine in the morning."

She pointed out the window. "It _is_ morning!"

"Barely!"

They had both been ignoring the man in the corner, who was now standing up only a little shakily and put a hand on Tie Die's shoulder. "I'm fine, Tie Die," he said quietly. "Just a bad dream. I'm sorry I overreacted. Why'd you come?"

She ran a hand through her hair. "I wanted to see how the rays and stuff were doing."

"I…" Horrible paused. "You were right before; I need to catch up on my sleep. Staying up for days at a time kills my immune system. My brain's acting weird. Can I talk to you about it in a day or so?"

"Um, yeah. I've been getting up early; I could probably do with a nap or something too."

"You want to take the couch?"

Tie Die felt uneasy. "No, I think I'll just go back to my car." Moist, she noticed, was slipping out of the room to where she assumed was his bedroom.

Horrible rubbed his neck as Tie Die slowly backed up. "No, don't do that, I just—"

"Then would you mind explaining to me what all _that_ was?" she gestured the floor where she and Horrible had just been, trying to keep from shouting.

"It was just… a bad dream." Tie Die crossed her arms angrily, silently demanding further explanation. Horrible took another deep breath. "I guess I was dreaming about Penny. She was my laundry buddy, you know," he added rather awkwardly. "I was feeling pretty bad one day, about the whole situation with Hammer and the League and everything, and we were sharing frozen yogurt." He smiled slightly at the memory. "She tried to cheer me up even though she was feeling pretty bad herself. Afterwards, she put her hand on my leg, and we both kinda leaned in, and…" Tie Die blinked. She never knew that Horrible had liked Penny in that way—"Then she mentioned Hammer and pulled back. Mister Corporate Tool ruins my life in yet another way." He snorted, but then his eyes softened. "I was just remembering that time, but it was so much more… colorful, and there was music in the background, and we actually--"

He cut himself off. "I'm so sorry, Tie Die. Probably the only way to make the situation worse is talking about Penny, huh?"

Tie Die felt like she couldn't breathe. "I guess. You know what, I'm going to go back to my car. Just get some sleep, 'kay? In a real bed this time?"

"Yeah." He looked down guiltily. "I'm really sorry, Tie Die. If I'd have known what I was doing, I'd have never done anything like… that." Tie Die knew he was referring to the kiss.

She nodded an acceptance and left the room to get back to her car. She started the motor and gently eased into a darker part of the street to be less conspicuous. After a thought, she locked the car's doors, then pulled her seat back and closed her eyes.

XXXEVENINTHEDARKNESSXXX

She waited until it was late afternoon to go back to Horrible's. The waiting didn't really matter to her—she realized that she had been steadily losing sleep the last few days anyway. Five or six hours of sleep a night wasn't going to cut it on a daily basis. She had gotten a couple naps in and finished reading a villain's manual that was in the glove compartment that she had been wanting to get through for some time. She eventually got out of the car, though, and walked the block or so back to the apartment. This time, she gave the door a loud knock.

Horrible answered, and Tie Die was glad to see that he seemed much healthier by this time. "Hey, Tie Die."

"Hey. You look better. How's the fever?"

"Took some painkillers and it's gone now." He looked away uneasily. "I really am sorry about last night—"

Tie Die put a finger on his mouth to quiet him. "It's fine; just don't make it a habit. Did you want to show me any of those rays?"

He looked up enthusiastically, his gloom evaporating. "Yeah, come on in!" As he brought her in, he began to explain. "The freeze ray's definitely a hundred percent; just have to run some tests and it'll be ready to go. The memory wiper's coming along great, thanks to the Metallion stuff you got, and it should be working now. I need to figure out how to program in certain areas of the brain to focus on, that is, the memories, which is really the point, but otherwise it's working out well. I mean, the ray form adapts to it beautifully! The mind-switcher isn't going to be a ray, so it's totally new territory for me and I have to do some more research, but I think I'll be fine. It's theoretical right now, but…"

"So when are we going to do the plan?"

"Give me a week." She gaped at him. "You have to promise not to come back for the week, though. I don't want a replay of last time…" He looked away and muttered, "What I remember of it, anyway." He cleared his throat. "I'll need some more all-nighters, but I'm so close to success… I can almost _feel_ it! Just need a little more time…"

Tie Die scowled. "At least wait to start until tomorrow. Give your body some time off."

He looked relieved. "Sure."

* * *

_A/N: Happy Easter, everybody! Have some lovely exposition. _

_Reviews make my day. Please, just a small note of thanks or a reason for not liking the story?_


	14. This Is the One

Alternate title that's too long for FF Net: **"Don't Plan the Plan If You Can't Follow Through"**

_A/N: I can conceivably see an end to this story. Scary, huh? I better not get ahead of myself.  
Savor the exposition, kiddies!_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Dr. Horrible or anything related. _Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog _belongs to Mutant Enemy._

_

* * *

_

She waited until evening of the seventh day to be on the safe side and eventually checked back on Horrible. He answered the door again and he, despite definitely needing to freshen up, looked fine. She was comforted.

"So everything's ready?" Tie Die asked.

"Yeah."

"And are you… feeling okay?"

"I slept for the last two days straight, if that's what you're worried about." He half-smiled, amused.

"Yeah. You look like it."

He frowned. "What is that supposed to—"

She went past him into the lab. "Okay, so where're the gadgets?"

Horrible grinned and went for a cabinet, rummaging around in it and pulling out the ray Tie Die recognized easily. "Freeze Ray!" he said proudly. "You have to set it in place and keep it there for it to work, but it should hold out longer this time—at least fifteen minutes. That'll be more than enough time."

"Especially since we're not going to break out into a villain song in the middle of the scheme." Tie Die smirked. "Right, Billy?" He looked down and grumbled, but handed her the Freeze Ray as he turned to get some other invention out. Her knees buckled at the sudden weight of it but she recovered by the time Horrible faced her again, holding a small pistol with a silver suction cup decorated with several thin wires and circles that Tie Die recognized as part of the Metallion she stole. "Mind wiper?" she guessed.

He nodded. "You put it on the guy's temples and pull the trigger. It leaks something kind of like radiation—I'm not sure exactly what it is yet, but I'm positive that it'll do what it's supposed to, and no weird side effects. I worked out those bugs."

She frowned. "You mean you experimented on—"

"Moving on!" he interrupted. "Last but not least in any way, shape, or form, here's the Mind Switcher." He paused and added, "It doesn't actually switch minds. That's just a catchy name. It's more like a Soul Switcher or something, but that sounds all creepy and necromantic, so…"

"You don't like necromancy." It was not a question.

"I've seen Dead Bowie." He looked like he had tasted something rancid. "Anyone who would disturb the dead that way is just sick. Besides, I hear he was…different before he died. Less cadaverous, had more _joie de vivre_—no pun—or something. Iunno, but the risk factor…" For some reason he snapped back to Reality, coughing awkwardly. "Yeah, it's just too risky. Anyway. The Mind Switcher. You gotta hook the wires up here, here, and here," he pressed his index fingers to his temples, front and back of his head, and the area right under his neck. "It has to happen simultaneously; you can't just download someone into a machine and take them out later—" He paused in epiphany, took out a dog-eared notebook from the pocket on his chest to scribble a note as he muttered something about it being a good idea, then put the pad away. "But anyway, we'll need to get them both in the same room, at least. The cord'll only stretch so far."

Tie Die was skeptical. "You think we can get the two of them into the same room?"

Horrible shrugged. "We don't really have a choice."

"So which one do you want to get?"

"Well, I figured I'd take Hammer, of course; he _is_ my nemesis…"

"Exactly." She thought. "Maybe we should go for the surprise factor. He knows how to fight you, how to psyche you out. I'm a stranger."

"Ever since the incident at the homeless shelter, he's been completely gutless. I can take him!"

"Better to be safe than sorry, Horrible," she said. "Besides, now that he's trying to get back to villain-fighting, he's going to be a challenge again. A severely brain-damaged idiot of a challenge from what I've heard, but still a challenge."

"It works both ways. I know his moves better than anyone."

"Then you can tell me his moves and I'll tell you Bad Horse's." Tie Die took out one of her stun rays to make sure it was charged up.

Horrible paled considerably, though his voice gave no indication. "I'm going to be trying to knock out Bad Horse?"

She faced him. "Horrible, this is going to involve risk. You knew that when you started."

"Yeah, I know. It's just… the name 'Bad Horse.'" He chuckled hollowly. "Kinda makes everything sink in."

"Yeah." She swallowed the lump in her throat. _Can't back out now._ "You got your phone?"

He pointed to his seemingly inconspicuous black duffel bag near the door. "Along with the stun gun and some reserve…" he paused to chuckle again, "_toys_ I packed 'cause I thought I'd be getting Hammer."

She tried to ignore the slight queasiness she felt at the discordantly malicious expression on Billy's face. "Look, just wear protection over your ears for the Death Whinny and you'll be golden."

"Sure," he said. Tie Die picked up her own bag of supplies first and went for the door of the apartment, but she stopped when she heard Horrible's low murmur of… longing? She turned around. He had already bent down for his own bag. She smiled sadly and reached a hand out to touch his shoulder. His head twisted around to look at her as she bent to the ground, too. His mixed expression probably mimicked her own as they both leaned in slowly. She tilted her head a smidge at the last minute to let their lips come together softly, her forehead rubbing against his goggles and his hands gently gripping her arms.

He pulled back slowly, their lips letting each other go after a moment. "So you forgive me for the other night, I guess?" he whispered.

"I guess so." She smiled.

"Good." They brought their lips together again and Tie Die closed her eyes to savor the closeness for as long as she could before Horrible slowly stood up with his bag.

"I'll, um, see you soon?"

"Yeah. Back here in the lab at ten?"

"Right."

As Horrible left through the door and Tie Die followed, she saw a dark-haired man leaning against the bedroom's door, grinning. _Moist._ She rolled her eyes but grinned back as she gave him a thumbs-up and took the bag, leaving the apartment behind and getting in her car on her way to a certain hero's lair.

_A/N: Reviews are for writers like chocolate is to… anyone who likes chocolate. A lot. My point is-- they're the reward of the labor. Please drop a note, whether it be a compliment or a criticism!_


	15. Captain Hammer, Corporate Tool

_A/N: A big thank you to Jamie55 (who is on both and Livejournal, the two places where I post this) for being an excellent beta for the Captain Hammer scene. Rest assured, this chapter would be much worse without 'em, eh?_

_Disclaimer: I do not own _Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog_ or anything so related._

* * *

Tie Die could hear him humming to himself after she had picked the lock and entered the humongous house, or mansion or whatever—it's "garage" was a jet hangar, for Pete's sake—and she flattened herself against the wall. She took a small mirror from her bag, angling it to see the superhero with bulging muscles who was practicing a charming grin in his own, floor-length mirror. She could just make out the words "Captain Hammer's here, hair blowing in the breeze," and had to restrain herself from slapping her forehead in exasperation. She quietly removed the stun ray from her bag and took it off the safety setting. Crouched down, she slunk into the large room, slowly standing up until she had reached her full height and was directly behind him. She aimed at his back, but the lug spun around to face her. _He must have seen me in the mirror. Ugh!_

Captain Hammer stared down his burly chest to see Tie Die before him. The dark-haired man's appearance was anything but clean. Although his shirt was straight and his hair was gelled, he looked like he hadn't shaved in days.

"Why hello," he said charismatically with a dazzling smile. "Are you a fan?"

Tie Die blinked. He was actually serious. "As if." She accompanied this with a roll of her eyes.

Hammer's expression became something nearly pensive, as if he was contemplating the possibility of an attractive woman not being into him. As he seemed to conclude something, he took a second, appraising look at Tie Die. His expression of heroic valor had melted immediately into one of pure fright. "You—you're Horrible's girlfriend, aren't you?" he stammered. "Is… _he_… here?"

Tie Die looked at the man with disgust. "No, he—"

She was caught off guard when Hammer shoved his fist right where her face had been seconds ago before she ducked. "Ha!" he shouted with obviously feigned courage. "He's too afraid to fight Captain Hammer again, eh? I don't blame him. Anyone in his right mind would—"

He was cut off as Tie Die's foot came in contact with his face. Tie Die was the one who winced and fell back, though; she felt like she had just kicked a brick wall. The kick had fortunately startled Hammer enough to let her recover. She gritted her teeth.

"What was that for?" Hammer said loudly (Tie Die got the impression that he was used to using his outdoor voice twenty four-seven).

"Hello? You just tried to punch me!"

"Well, yeah. That's what I do. You're not supposed to fight back."

She picked up the mirror as best she could and heaved it toward him, demanding, "Excuse me?!"

Hammer let the mirror hit him and shatter, then lunged for Tie Die. "You're the villain, right?"

"Duh." She kicked him.

"So I beat you up, get on the news, and go home. It's what a hero does."

Tie Die felt a little smug despite Hammer suddenly getting a strong hold of her ankle. "And what if I win?"

"I'd have to be a real 'tard to let you do that." He yanked her, trying to twist her arm out of its socket.

"Says who?"

"Um, everyone?"

Tie Die dropped out of his grip easily. "You are really messed up."

"Look who's talking."

"You're an idiot."

"Your mom's an idiot."

She stopped arguing to hold up the forgotten ray. "Look, Hammerman, this won't hurt. Much."

He grabbed her arm, holding her above the ground. She shouted as her arm felt like it was pulled out of its socket. "Captain Hammer isn't the pain-feeling type, dollface," he said confidently. Tie Die swung her arm around angrily, squeezing the trigger on the ray. The room suddenly became very quiet. Unnaturally so.

Tie Die spent the next few minutes painstakingly prying her arm from Captain Hammer's frozen, iron grip. Hopefully, the worst was over. She had brought a little cart, like a scooter with a wide base, to wheel Hammer back to Horrible's. She didn't realize he would be that heavy. It was 9:30 PM by the time she'd managed to get Hammer into the back of her pick-up truck. She knew she was running late. She drove to Horrible's as fast as she could once she had covered the superhero with a large black tarp, certain that her stun ray would keep him immobile as long as she needed him to be.

She left the tarp on the Captain as she wheeled him onto the steps of Horrible's apartment and in the door, which she opened easily and locked behind her. It was hard for her to navigate the bulky hero through Billy's narrow hallway, but Tie Die figured that the doctor had the harder job, leading a frozen-in-time horse through the same. She made it to the end and slid open the door of the lab.

She screamed for the second time that day when she was immediately confronted with the face of Bad Horse.

"Woah! Tie Die!" She heard Billy's voice calling from behind the Thoroughbred of Sin. She noticed that the horse wasn't moving and took a deep breath.

"Yeah. Thanks for warning me about Bad Horse standing in the middle of your doorway, Billy boy." Her voice was thick with sarcasm.

"Sorry." He came out from behind the horse and Tie Die was able to see him. Billy had scuff marks in the shape of U's—hoof prints—on various areas of his lab coat, and Tie Die could clearly see a large, raw red area around his eyes. She was sure it would scar, or at least bruise.

"What happened to you, Billy?!"

He shrugged. "Nothing worse than what I'm used to from Hammer. You probably got more of a beating than I did…" He trailed off as he took in her neat, undamaged appearance.

She felt uncomfortable. "I had some time to clean up in the truck. Had cosmetics in my purse."

"Oh. Okay." He coughed, blinking. "I mean, you look nice. In a good way."

"So you actually got Bad Horse?" Tie Die asked after a pause.

"Um, yeah!" Horrible looked warily at the head of the Evil League of Evil. "The Freeze Ray helped some. So you ready to do the switch?"

"No reason to wait."

He nodded and ushered her and the covered-up Captain Hammer into the lab. She took off the tarp and dropped it on the ground as Billy reached into his duffel bag and pulled out a pair of goggles like his own. He handed them to Tie Die. "Put these on."

She frowned down at them. "Look, you may be into the mad-scientist-fashion scene, but I prefer my mask—"

"For eye protection," he explained patiently. "Just in case." Tie Die reluctantly turned away, covering up her face to pull off her mask. "Oh, that's how it is," Horrible added.

"What?"

"You can see my face any day of the week but I still can't see yours?" He smirked.

Tie Die sighed. "Fine." She pulled off her mask and rushed to replace it with the goggles as Horrible drew a sharp breath. "What now?"

"Nothing!" Horrible looked away quickly as his cheeks turned a bit red. "Like I said, you look nice." He spun around to pick up the Mind Switcher, handing one end of it to Tie Die. "Here, put this on his head. I'll do the same for Bad Horse." She took the small jumble of wires and hooked them onto various parts of Captain Hammer's head, fumbling. When she was done, she turned to see that Horrible was ready as well. He gestured that she should move back, and she did.

Horrible took a small box, pressing a small button on it as he flinched away from the two captive's bodies. Tie Die followed suit warily.

Hammer and Bad Horse each trembled at the same moment, completely in sync. Then, they did nothing. No crack of lightning, no flash of Technicolor. Tie Die found herself distinctly disappointed. She looked at Billy, whose bursting smile showed his pride in his apparent success. The inactivity must have been what he was expecting after all.

"Mind wiper now?"

Horrible nodded eagerly. Tie Die held out her hand for the silver ray gun. Billy looked at her sadly, clutching the device to his chest. "I thought, since I invented it, I could…"

She could see the pout beginning to form and gave up immediately. "Fine," she said a bit begrudgingly. She watched as he went up to each of the frozen, mind-switched leaders of men in turn, wiping their memory with a single shot of the gun.

Horrible hissed in sudden pain as he dropped the ray. "Burned me," he explained with gritted teeth to Tie Die, who looked on worriedly.

"So do you think it worked?"

"We can only hope. Ready to go again?"

She sighed. "Yeah."

Her part was easy, all things considered. Hammer had little security at his place, so she should have been able to drop Bad Horse—in Hammer's body, of course—off at his place with little opposition. The only danger was if he woke up when she was around. Horrible'd assured her that the stun ray would keep him inert for several more hours, but she knew to never rely fully on mad science.

Fortunately, the former supervillain never awoke, and she made it back to Horrible's in record time. She changed into her civilian wear. Smirking as she sat on Billy's couch, Tie Die looked over the TV schedule. _Good, the news is on at nine AM_. It was already late and she needed to sleep, but she couldn't miss tomorrow's news program. It was sure to be social chaos. And, well, a lot of fun.

* * *

_A/N: I realize that I've never said "leave a review, get a reply" before. I really will reply. So what do you say? Just one little review? *does the Puppy Dog Pout*_


	16. Destroying the Status Quo

_A/N: Thanks to Jamie55 for the beta for the second half of this chapter!  
Only one more chapter left, everyone!_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Dr. Horrible or anything related. _Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog _belongs to Mutant Enemy._

* * *

Tie Die slowly awoke to the now-familiar, warm, and hoodied body next to her. Billy was half-awake, watching the flickering lights on the television in front of them as he left his arm draped around her leisurely. She stirred a smidge and he quickly withdrew his arm bashfully. She pulled her wrist to her face, bleary-eyed. It was already almost eight o'clock; she must have been tired to have slept for so long. She started to pull herself up from her half-lying-down position on the comfortably broken-in couch, but decided it wasn't worth it, flopping back down.

"'Morning, Tie Die," Billy said, slightly hushed.

She grunted in response, then rolled over to face him. "Why aren't you asleep?" she tried to ask. Her words slurred together.

"I just wasn't very tired. I can always take a nap or something later."

"Naps are for toddlers and old folks," she retorted drowsily.

But Horrible's attention was suddenly taken by the television. He grabbed the clicker and turned up the sound as the theme music for the news came on.

"We interrupt this program for a breaking news flash," a blonde, professional-looking woman with a wide smile said into the camera. A balding man beside her straightened his papers as she continued, "Havoc was wreaked at Duley Park early this morning when professional hero Captain Hammer was seen taking a child's ice cream cone." Tie Die realized that Horrible gave no exaggeration of the amount of media attention Hammer got, but smirked because she knew what was coming.

The male reporter consulted his notes. "The superhero, who has received countless awards and memorials based on his large amount of positive contributions to the community, proceeded to throw the frozen confection in the little girl's face and attempt to pull her pigtails. When asked for comment, Captain Hammer replied 'I just like seeing people hurt.'" The words appeared, highlighted, in a blue quote bar on the bottom of the screen for emphasis.

"Such a shame that such a hero could fall to such villainy," added the woman with the same plastic grin. "Speaking of villainy, the Evil League of Evil reportedly was thrown in an uproar when its covert base of operations was revealed because of a pandemonium caused by the legendary ruler, Bad Horse. The 'Thoroughbred of Sin,' as he was known, allegedly went into a frenzy, throwing out the many villains in the building, calling them 'goth crazy weirdos.' He has been intercepted by authorities and is being held in a secure penitentiary for questioning."

Tie Die lifted her head up, ecstatic, and shared a high five with Horrible.

"Police in charge of the case have officially stated that there is no correlation between the two incidents," said the man.

Horrible, his attention now off the screen, looked smug. "And you doubted my genius."

"Hey, I did just as much work for this as you did."

"Did not."

"Did too." Tie Die giggled.

They playfully shoved each other for a few minutes until they were both completely awake, the television station had gone back to showing the program it had been playing earlier, and Horrible had fallen off the couch. He waved a hand to signal defeat, and Tie Die pulled him up again, leaning on his side to watch TV.

After some time had passed, Horrible turned to her. "So the League seems to be out of the picture."

She punched the OFF button of the TV remote, eliminating the background noise. "Yeah." She suddenly realized something. "I can go back to my apartment. And you won't have them hunting you down anymore."

Horrible blinked in revelation as he sucked in a breath, pausing to soak it in, and grinned the thrilled grin of someone alleviated of a death sentence. He bounded off the sofa. "Hey, you want me to drive you home? We could grab something on the way to celebrate!"

Tie Die agreed.

XXXYOUANDME,ANYDAYXXX

Two sinfully unhealthy hot-fudge sundaes and a car trip later, they pulled up with a _screech_ to the curb across the street from Tie Die's house.

Sitting—_drooping_ was more like it—on the curb was someone Tie Die recognized easily.

Horrible recognized her too. He muttered under his breath. "You want backup?" he asked her, putting on his villain-game-face.

She shook her head, stunned. "I… think I better do this alone."

"Tell me if you want backup. I'll be right here."

She nodded and stepped out of the car, slamming the door behind her. Tie Die approached the dark-haired woman cautiously. "Leika," she said.

Fury Leika looked up at her. "Tie Die," she said begrudgingly.

Tie Die's answer was hostile. "Why are you sitting on my curb?"

Leika shrugged. "I came to… came to…" She attempted to spit the word out. "_apologize._ I guess." Tie Die was taken aback. "I know you were behind the Bad Horse and Hammer thing. I don't know how, I just know. It fits." She paused. "Plus I had all my henchmen spying on you two ever since you left the League."

Tie Die took this in. "Henchmen? I thought Bad Horse forbade—"

"Yeah, he did." Leika looked away. "The League was crumbling anyway. Two members openly defy Bad Horse: Two corpses are expected. When the League didn't get the bodies, it kind of set a bad precedent for Bad Horse's authority."

"'_The bodies_.' You mean _our_ bodies. Mine and Horrible's."

"Yes."

"And you expect me to believe that you're just _apologizing_ for trying to murder Billy and me—"

"I didn't try to kill you, Tie." Leika's voice was small. Tie Die stared at her in surprise as she kept talking. "I mean, I was mad, and it was a lot of fun trashing your house, but I didn't—when I told the League about your involvement with Horrible, I didn't think they'd—"

"Yeah. Well, they did. And we've been hiding from you. Do you have any idea how uprooting, how _embarrassing_ that was?!"

"I'm…" Leika paused, forcing the word out. "sorry."

"Sure, yeah, you're sorry." Tie Die was obviously sarcastic. "That's the reason you trashed our apartments, stalked us, left _notes written in blood—_"

"Give me more credit," Leika said, a hint of her usual smirk appearing on her face. "As if I didn't know Bad Horse would have my head if I didn't try to kill you."

"But?" Tie Die said skeptically.

"You know I know your schedule. I practically shouted 'steer clear of your apartment, there's danger,' for Pete's sake, Tie."

"Uh?"

She sighed. "I pretended we'd killed you to get the League off my tail. Off both of out tails, I guess."

Tie Die crossed her arms suddenly, in denial. "What in the world makes you think I'd trust you again, Leika?"

"Come off it. We had a spat. It wasn't big. If I'd have wanted you dead when I was in the League, trust me, you'd be dead by now."

Tie Die slowly let her arms fall to her sides as she contemplated the possibility of Leika actually being honest.

She heard a long, piercing _beeeeeeeeeeeeeep!_ from behind her and sighed, turning to see that Horrible had fallen asleep in front of the car wheel, his forehead resting on the horn. She looked at Leika and shrugged good-naturedly. Just like that, the tension was broken.

Leika smiled wryly as she saw Tie Die making her way to the car. "Gonna wake him up?"

"Nah, just push him off the steering wheel. No sense in advertising our presence to the neighborhood."

Horrible was sleeping lightly, though, and woke up as soon as she nudged him. He blinked blearily up at her. "So, is Leika…"

"I think she's on the level." She glanced back at her former friend uncertainly, but Horrible rubbed his eyes and got out of the car.

"Is she going to help carry your stuff in?"

"I can manage." She walked to the trunk of the car, pulling out the bulky suitcase. She momentarily struggled to get a good grip on it but found part of the weight alleviated suddenly as Billy took the other end, pushing it up with his arms and back.

"Thanks," she said quietly with the blush that she wished would stop appearing out of nowhere.

"So." Tie Die jumped, almost dropping the suitcase in surprise as she heard Leika's voice behind her. Leika grinned slyly. "You two are together now."

Tie Die rolled her eyes. "Lei—"

"Mark my words, Tie, you're going to regret ever getting into a relationship. Men are pure _evil_. And not in a way I'd approve of." She looked at Billy. "No offense to your new boytoy."

Billy looked away a little resentfully, but Tie Die bumped him with her elbow, juggling the case. "She's always like this, Billy boy. She hasn't killed you—that means she likes you." Leika punched her playfully in response. Billy scoffed and tried to pull the bag (and Tie Die by proxy) toward the deserted house. Tie Die reluctantly followed, hanging back to talk to Leika about Hourglass's new uniform and Bait and Switch's latest fall-out.

She had missed a lot, being out of the villain loop.

By the time they had hauled all of Tie Die's things into the house, the two women were still chattering eagerly and Billy had collapsed on her dirty sofa, sweating and gasping for breath from the physical exertion he had put out bringing in the baggage and rearranging the furniture while the villainesses eagerly caught up. Tie Die took a break at a lull in the conversation to bend over Billy and plant a peck on his cheek. "Thank you, Billy," she said in a faintly sing-song voice. He wearily held up a hand, a thumbs-up, and let it fall back down. Tie Die abandoned him, letting him sleep for once as she and Leika went into the kitchen to catch up. It felt good, sitting over the now-room-temperature coffee she'd brought, laughing at in-jokes she had forgotten in Leika's absence.

Truth be told (though she didn't want to admit it), she really had missed Leika.

* * *

_A/N: I have recently learned that some do not like when the author asks for reviews. I've found that a note like this one compells me to review (and indeed got me in the habit of reviewing when I was a newcomer to FF) and also seems to garnish more reviews for my own stories when used. If you find this rude, please tell me!_

_Despite this, I'd, um, really like it if you review, whether it be positively or negatively. Please?  
_


	17. The Wait Is Over

_A/N: So we're here to the last chapter. Thanks to all the readers and especially a thank-you to my first and informal beta (codename: "Iron M."), who gave me suggestions for most of my early/middle chapters, and to Jamie55, a friend and a recent beta who helped me with this last chapter as well (I'm sorry I couldn't get your reply, but I was planning on posting this today—hope you told me everything you wanted to. ^^;)._

_Thank you everyone, again, for the reading and for the many reviews! You've all made this worthwhile, and hopefully honed my writing skills with constructive criticism._

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything here—Dr. Horrible and everything related belongs to Mutant Enemy._

* * *

It had been months since Tie Die had moved back into her house. Horrible had helped her repair the electronics, and she was glad he did, even if the television remote now turned the microwave setting to "kill" (as she'd found when trying to make a TV dinner a week after the move). She was repaying the favor now, lugging a large, metallic video camera into their lair.

Speaking of which, they'd finally invested together in a lair. It was actually the former Evil League of Evil building, which was rather fortunate: it came with built-in state-of-the-art traps, false hallways, and other security devices, and had been empty for some time anyway. They didn't have the deed to the building per se, but it was against villainous code to work with the law when not undercover.

Leika dropped by once every couple of days to help out with the more illegal parts of supervillainy, and Moist was practically a permanent addition to the lair, being Horrible's henchman.

And Horrible—Horrible was brimming over with ideas, tinkering in the lair's multitudes of science labs and experimental-substance areas. Sometimes Tie Die would check up on him. Whenever he caught her, she gave him a peck on the cheek and insist she was practicing her stealth techniques.

The system they developed together was very suited to her, she came to realize. She had hated the odd hours of the League, but their lair was operating fully on flex-time. She came and left whenever she wanted—she was her own boss. She liked it a lot. Many days' lunch breaks were spent alone with Billy, planning out how they would run the world together—from the serious to the absurd.

"_Science class mandatory in schools."_

"_History classes there too. On the past few decades, things that kids could actually use."_

"_Laws about truth in advertising."_

"_Laws about being annoying." _(This came from Horrible, after a few angry email exchanges with some hero named Johnny Snow.)

"_No more superheroes."_

"_**Definitely**__ no more superheroes."_

Tie Die pushed a door open with her shoulder, dragging the camera behind her. She entered a dark room with shadows in the corners and a deep red undertone. It was set up like a crude newsroom, with a polished wooden desk for two people set up in front of two plush crimson chairs. Some newspapers with titles like "WORST VILLAIN EVER," "HERO AND ELE FALL FROM GLORY," and "EVIL CRIMINALS PROMISE SOCIAL REFORM" were spread across the tabletop along with a couple bright white sheets of paper starkly contrasting with the dimness of the room. Tie Die set down the camera carefully in place, aiming it at the desk. She heard Horrible open the door and turned around with a devious smile. Billy was in his blood-red lab coat, which she had never liked but was finally getting used to, and wearing the goggles over his eyes. She had her mask on as usual but had gotten a slightly new outfit for the occasion—one with more scarlet in it to match the color scheme the two had set up. It made her feel bold, more so than usual.

Horrible nodded to her as he arrived in the filming room. No time for affection; they couldn't have afforded to lose composure on live TV. They needed their heads held high, stiff but sure.

Leika had promised to come over to watch, and she and Moist were sitting opposite them, visible through a wall made of glass. Tie Die could see the faint glow of Leika's portable television that was resting on her lap.

Horrible had been examining the camera one last time, hooking it up to a couple monitors. He turned it on and Tie Die saw herself in the screens. She self-consciously repositioned her chair slightly, patting her brown hair down. Horrible went to the desk, sliding behind it onto his own chair. He slid his iPhone out of his pocket and Tie Die could make out the words "HORRIBLE CAMERA REMOTE" on its heading.

He turned his head toward her. "You sure you're ready for this?"

"Are you kidding?" She smiled. "This is _everything I ever_ wanted."

He gave a wry grin and Tie Die took the chance to dive in for a kiss. He returned it and she savored the taste of his lips for a moment before breaking away carefully. They were both cautious, delicate with the moment, as if it might break if handled roughly.

Sitting straight once again, Tie Die looked up to see Leika giving her a thumbs-up as a go-ahead. She took a deep breath as Horrible punched his iPhone with his gloved thumb and a little green light appeared on the camera.

"Greetings," she heard herself say as a smirk pulled at her lips. "As you all should know by now, I'm Tie Die and this is my comrade, Doctor Horrible."

"And we're here," Horrible intoned beside her, his face also settling into a malicious smile, "to take over your world."

THE END


End file.
